Hero's Fall
by RC-DA
Summary: After his last fight with Ganondorf Link finds himself in the horror filled world of Shingeki no Kyojin. With nothing better to do he joins the military and meets the lovable cast we all know. Will contain Manga spoilers, but will not follow the continuity exactly.
1. Failure

**_AN: Ok, attempt three at writing a story, the first one is no longer available, as it sucked. I am only starting another, due to my problem trying to write chapter 6 for "The Return." So to try and take my mind of that I am writing this._**

 _Hyrule Field_

Link wiped the sweat of his forehead, the war was finally going to end after many long and hard years of fighting.

Upon returning to Hyrule from his trips in Termina, he had learned that Ganondorf had broken out of prison and had begun an all out attack on Hyrule. During their many encounters throughout the years, Link had learned that both Zelda and Ganondorf had kept their memories of seven years into the future.

Because of this Ganondorf was even more ruthless in obtaining the head of the Hero than ever before. All of his attempts had failed however, and the many long years of conflict had made Link more efficient in every way.

He had mastered hand to hand combat with the Gorons, mastered archery with the Gerudos, increased his overall speed with the Zoras, but that was not all. Over the period of war, Ganondorf had created several Dark Links to try and kill Link, allowing him to conquer Hyrule without a hitch.

These Dark Links became more deadly and skilled with every iteration, yet none could defeat the Hero of Time. Due to these encounters, Link had perfected the way of the sword, and had come up with his own seven techniques to give him the edge in duels.

Yet it was not a shoe in victory for the Hylians. Despite all of his improvement, Link could not surpass Ganondorf, it was to be expected after all, he was only around 13. And Ganondorf was not slouching either, he too was improving himself so he could beat the Hero.

Despite this he still had greater value in battle than an entire army, easily being able to dispatch hordes of Darknuts singlehandedly. In this case however, he had to withstand Ganondorf's last stand, an all out attack on Hyrule Castle!

Every monster, every soldier under Ganondorf's command was being dispatched and sent to bring Hyrule to its knees. There was no way around it, the war was ending one way or another. As the first monsters came into view, Link drew the Master Sword from the sheathe on his back, and prepared to go to battle.

He was all alone, no one else had the will to fight right now, they saw it all as a lost cause. In their minds, Hero or not, there was no way they could withstand the power coming at them.

Link however was not going to give up without a fight, he had fought, bled, and suffered for as long as he could remember. If he had to lay down his life for the peace he so desperately tried to bring then so be it. Hyrule was his home, no one would destroy it as long as he lived.

The monsters drew closer, closer, and closer still, turning around Link took one last long look at the castle behind him, and prayed that the Goddesses would favor him that day.

One monster who was quicker than the others had reached Link while he was still looking at the castle. In an attempted sneak attack it drew its sword back and swung at Link's head.

The sword never made contact, as the arm holding it fell to the ground, along with the whole relight half of the monster, as it had been cleaved clean in half in a diagonal cut. Link once more sheathed his sword, and began to walk toward the approaching monsters, which now began to show a sign of fear on their faces.

With no other option the monster's charged and Link sprung into action, slicing, shooting, throwing, blasting, and bashing any monster in sight. The Darknuts' armor did them no good as the Master Sword cut right through, thanks the the force coming from behind Link's swings. Even for a thirteen year old, Link was physically the second strongest in Hyrule.

Monster upon monster fell, creating a ring around the Hero, almost as if he were a tornado of death, and anything that wandered to close would die in a moment. In only a few minutes the horde was halved and had stopped their attack.

Link was feeling confident as he looked at the now still mass of monsters, thinking they were too afraid to attack him. The smile on his face slowly disappeared when the monsters parted, creating a path through them.

Walking down this path was none other than the king of evil himself, Ganondorf. "So it has come to this, has it," Ganondorf sneered, "The lone Hero against the King of Evil."

Link simply replied, "That is how it began, and that is how it must end." "So the freak CAN speak," Ganondorf laughed, "how must it feel, knowing that you don't stand a chance, and that you are about to fail Hyrule, for the last time?"

"I defeated you in the future, I can defeat you now," Link shouted back. With a small grunt, Ganondorf retorted, "We shall see." With that, he dismissed the remnants of his army and the final showdown began.

Ganondorf drew his sword, a black long sword around 45 inches long and 5 inches thick, and charged right at Link while beginning his swing. Using the Mortal Draw, Link countered the strike with his own and proceeded to try and bash Ganondorf with his Hylian shield.

Backing off Ganondorf shifted his weapon to one hand, and begun to fire magic blasts at the Hero of Time from the other. Running up to get close, Link avoided some of the blasts, while hitting the others with his sword, sending them back to the Evil King.

As Link drew closer, Ganondorf jumped up in the air, and began to descend, attempting to bring his sword down on Link. Halting his advance, Link blocked the strike with his shield, creating a shockwave of force that shuddered throughout the field.

There was a loud cracking sound, a second later, the shield couldn't take anymore, and shattered into many pieces. The destruction of his shield had knocked Link of balance, giving Ganondorf an opening.

As Ganondorf swung right at his midsection, Link brought the Master Sword down quickly, managing to block the attack. Doing a backflip Link put some distance between him and the male Gerudo.

Despite the composed look on his face, internally Link was slightly shaken. The Hylian shield was supposed to have been indestructible, so while his mirror shields were the same way, he did not draw them lest the break as well.

The two continued their deadly dance, with neither one getting the advantage, until a well placed elbow from Ganondorf knocked the wind out of Link. One sword swing later and the Hero was now on the ground with a huge gash across the chest.

"I could kill you now, but that would have been too easy," Ganondorf contemplated, "No, I have a fate worse than death in mind for you." Closing his fist, two symbols of the Triforce appeared on the back of his hand.

Link looked at the symbol wide eyed, " _When did he get the Triforce of Wisdom_ ," he thought. He would be cut out of his thoughts by the extreme pain he felt, as the Triforce of Courage was withdrawn from him by the Evil King.

Now having all 3 pieces, Ganondorf began to laugh very loudly as a portal opened behind Link. Grabbing onto the ground as best he could, Link struggled against the pull coming from it.

"I figured the best way to get my revenge on you was to send you to an alternate dimension, then once I had taken over Hyrule, bring you back and make you look upon what I had done to it," Ganondorf yelled, with an evil laugh.

Feeling his hands slip, Link looked up and noticed the Triforce shining above Ganondorf's head. " _It must have formed above him once he completed it_ ," realized Link.

Looking back at the portal, Link got and idea. Moving one of his hands back, he quickly withdrew his longshot, and fired it directly at the Triforce of Courage.

Ganondorf was too busy laughing to notice until the hook had passed over his head. As soon as Link felt the hook embed itself in the Golden Triangle and begin to reel itself back, he let go of the ground and let the portal take him in.

Just in time as Ganondorf fired a magic blast right were he was. As soon as he was through, the portal closed leaving Ganondorf alone in Hyrule field.

"NO," Ganondorf yelled, "THAT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! CURSE YOU LINK!"

 _Through the portal_

Link slowly stirred as he heard commotion around him, standing up he got a good look at his surroundings. He was in a very busy town, and at each of its edges was a giant wall.

 ** _AN: Before anyone points out the contradiction of Link only being 13, yet the story saying he has fought for many long and hard years, just wait that will be explained later._**


	2. The new world

_**AN: Ok, updates may slow as school is starting up for me again, certainly not excited for that. Another reason may be that I recently started playing xenoblade chronicles x for the first time since around August, and oh boy I did not know what I was missing. Also to clear some confusion, Link does not have the whole Triforce, he only got the Triforce of Courage back. I thought that was clear when I only used the singular instead of plural on golden triangle. I apologize for confusion, but for this story having the whole Triforce would kind of make everything pointless.**_

* * *

 _Trost District – Year 848_

Link looked around the city in wonder, he had never seen so many people and houses in one place. Yes Hyrule had grown but it was no where near the scale of something like this. Deciding that there was no point in just sitting around, he got up and began to check out the town.

Walking through the town he noticed shops of all kind, food, clothes, metal works, and many more. He also noticed the weird looks he was getting from people, but that didn't really bother him too much. After all that he had been through, it would take much more than some weird looks to unnerve him.

As he continued to walk, Ganondorf's words came back into his head, "Once I have conquered Hyrule, I will bring you back and make you see what I had done to it." " _Also he will be coming for the Triforce of Courage_ ," Link continued in his thoughts, " _meaning I WILL face him again. I have to prepare for then, who knows how much time I have?_ "

He was knocked out of his thoughts by walking into someone. "Hey watch where you're going kid," the soldier yelled at him. Taking no notice, or at least not acknowledging it, Link continued to walk along minding his own business.

This, of course, infuriated the pompous soldier, sending him into a rage. Catching up to Link, he placed his hand on his shoulder, turning his head Link saw a fist approaching his face. Before the soldier even knew what had happened, he was lying facedown on the ground, with a broken nose. Getting back up he saw the boy walking off at a casual pace.

Not wanting to let him get away, the soldier shouted, "Stop that bastard!" This got the attention of other soldiers who were in the vicinity, with only some chasing after Link. One soldier in particular was looking at the Hero, thinking he would be a good recruit for the newly formed 104th trainee squad.

As Link continued to walk away, he ducked into an alleyway, quickly stowing the Master Sword, and equipping his Gilded Sword, and the Mirror shield from Desert Colossus. Coming out of the alley, he came face to face with a a group of angry, and half amused, soldiers.

Before anyone attacked each other however, one Garrison troop walked out into the front of the group with an outstretched hand. "Greetings, my name is Hannes," the man introduced himself. Link just looked at the hand for a second, before shaking it. "Seeing what you did back there has made me think that you would be perfect for the military here," the man continued, "what do you say, um… you know I don't think you gave me your name."

Link remained silent, showing no emotion whatsoever. "Not much of a talker are you huh kid," Hannes began again, "well that's fine, you won't need to talk should you take me up on my offer," the man extended his hand once more. Looking at it Link shrugged, it's not like he had anything better to do at the moment. Also the military may give him the opportunity to prepare himself for the oncoming storm.

Taking the man's hand Link said, "Link." With a nod of understanding Hannes began to lead Link to the training camps for military recruits. " _Maybe_ ," Link thought, " _this will be fun._ "

* * *

 _Hyrule- Ganon's Castle_

Ganondorf was fuming, he was so close to the power he desired, but his arrogance had gotten the better of him. He had left the Triforce out in the open, and had no one but himself to blame for the missing piece of it. Focusing his energy, he began to create another portal to the dimension he had sent Link to.

Upon getting it started he began to feel drained, opening portals to the gap between dimesions was one thing, whole other ones was another. Seeing the portal slowly grow, Ganondorf used his magic to check when it would be done. Growling at his misfortune, he stormed out of the portal chamber and onto the castle balcony. " _No matter_ ,' Ganondorf thought, " _two years is plenty of time to destroy Hyrule._ "

* * *

 _Trost- Trainee Camp- Mess Hall_

It had been one month since the 104th trainee squad had been organized and in that time, the amount of fights that had broken out between two of the trainees was ridiculous. Eren and Jean would always butt heads about point of views, who was the bigger fool and other things. Most of them found it amusing, except for two, Armin and Mikasa.

Tonight was no different, the two would argue, almost come to blows, Mikasa would step in and break it up. Instead of the night ending in peace there however, the head instructor, Keith Shadis, came to the door with another person. "Alright Titan food, listen up," the man bellowed, "we have a new recruit, apparently he was just recently found and was recommended personally by the Garrison."

The trainees were in shock, not because there was a new recruit, but because said recruit had walked over to a table while Shadis was speaking, without waiting to be dismissed. Even more shocking, Shadis didn't seem to care, as he left without a word.

Conversation began again, with Jean heading over to Link to try and gain his adoration. "So, what brings you to the military," Jean asked, trying to make conversation. Link just looked at him for a second before turning back to the table. Jean smiled, "Ah, you don't have to tell me, I know that you're here to try and get into the Military Police. Nothing beats being in the inner walls, too bad only the top 10 can get in, of course I will be the best here so," Jean trailed off.

"Hey," Jean, with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "why don't you say something." "Get off of him Horseface," Eren spoke up, "he clearly is annoyed by you and everyone is tired of hearing your lips flap." Before Jean could respond, Mikasa had already shoved food in Eren's mouth, not wanting to have to break up another scuffle.

Turning his head back to where Link was sitting, Jean opened his mouth to speak again, only to find the seat empty, and the new guy walking away. Shrugging his shoulders Jean went back to his old seat beside Marco, and continued eating. Outside the mess hall Link was internally fuming, " _Running away to safety, while others are in imminent danger. What cowardice scum."_

* * *

 _Few months later_

The day's training was hand to hand, and Link was not at all excited. He had no desire to do any of the drills that were being done, as they all felt too simple. Also he didn't want to injure anyone of the trainees, with his advanced techniques. Thinking on it, why was he even here?

If this kept up, then he would lose all the skill he had obtained through the lifetime he had fought, and then some. Already, he had learned how to balance and maneuver with the 3DMG, but he didn't ever show off with it. He saw how unfit these cadets were, if they wanted to run let them, he wasn't going to deny them that.

In the end it didn't matter to him where he placed, no what mattered is what he was going to do, and after learning of the struggle of the people in this place, well he finally had a new purpose than Hyrule. That's why he was here, to do his job as a hero and to save as many people as he could. Back to the cadets, Link didn't really like any of them, but of all he hated Jean the most.

The guy was such an arrogant coward, who didn't know when to shut up. Then there was his rival, Eren, who was not as bad, but still up there. First he was a blind idiot, throwing away his life when he still had things to enjoy right next to him. Link did not feel any form of hypocrisy in this as Eren hoped to destroy something that did not prevent normal lives from happening like Ganondorf did.

Also he totally did not notice the other thing right in front of him, the top trainee, Mikasa. While she was no where near as good as him, she still had a fair amount of skill, and yet she followed Eren around as much as she could. It was clear how she felt about him, Link was an expert at spotting those kind of things on other people not himself, and the idiot was too focused on a fool's dream to notice. There was one more who was always with the two, Armin, who Link didn't think was so bad, just that he was the guy who was totally gonna die first.

He may have been strategic, but could he be like that in the heat of battle, could he keep up with the others to stay alive? Well only time could tell that, and Link had plenty of it, literally. A sudden shove on his back snapped him out of his thoughts, and back into reality. Turning around he saw Reiner, with Eren close by, standing right behind him.

"Training not good enough for you," Reiner asked with a grin. Link just gave him a blank stare before turning to walk away when a hand fell on his shoulder, again it was Reiner. "Now now, it isn't really fair for us to be working very hard and people like you and Annie sitting around doing nothing, now is it," Reiner continued.

With an evil smile he spoke, "Eren here is going to show you how a soldier fights, now isn't he," Reiner finished while turning towards Eren. Eren shot Reiner a glare, before stepping up and getting in a stance, expecting Link to attack. Link just stood there, not doing anything, before turning to leave once more.

Eren, infuriated by being ignored, threw a punch at the back of Link's head. The next thing he new he was on the ground, staring up at the sky. Link had used a variation of the Mortal Draw, where instead of grabbing his sword, he grabbed Eren's arm instead, while also letting go during the swing.

Almost everyone stopped, dead silence filtered through the trainees who had seen it. Most looked on with open jaws and wide eyes, except for one. Mikasa strode towards Link, and upon reaching him said, "Link, why don't you try picking on someone your own size?"

Link just looked at her, then to Eren, then back to her, before he once again turned to leave. As he was leaving he replied, "Keep your boyfriend out of trouble will you, its never honorable to attack someone while their back is turned." Mikasa, slightly blushing, just sighed and shot Eren a glare, one that was returned in all intensity as he pushed aside the hand she offered him. " _That guy_ ," Eren thought, " _does not understand what loss is like_." Eren had never been so wrong in his life before.

Armin was watching the whole thing, and after things settled down a bit left to go look for Link. Armin was intrigued by the strange late recruit, why did he have no last name, why was he more apathetic than Annie, where did he learn to do that move he pulled on Eren?

So many questions flooded his brain at a time, he only came back to reality when he was pinned to the ground. Looking up he saw the figure of Link towering over him, whose eyes seemed to say, "Why are you following me?" Armin gathered up his nerves and spoke, "I was curious, where did you learn to do that, during training?" Extending an arm, Link helped Armin up and the two began walking with each other, talking about various things.

Link was glad for this opportunity as it helped him understand the two most complex trainees at the camp, whom he had started to gain a little bit more respect for, but not much.

* * *

 _Hyrule- Secret Area_

Zelda focused deeply, trying to create the portal to find Link. She knew he would be in an alternate dimension, the question was which one? Even then, it took all her power to make just a small portal, hopefully she could open it next to Link, and then let him know to widen it from his side. Taking a deep breathe once more, she began to try again.

* * *

 _Trost-Trainee Graduation-2 years later_

Link did not care at all for what was going on around him. The graduation for the trainees was commencing, making the cadets officially soldiers, well he was already a solder, and hero, but that was beside the point.

The top ten was obvious, with him not in it. Link put NO effort in at all in the whole training period, doing just well enough to stay in, purposely doing bad to not get in the top ten. That way one more person could escape should they so choose to, it didn't matter that much to him. In reality though, he could have easily been the whole top ten by himself, or so he liked to think.

After the ceremony everyone was cheering in the mess hall, where surprise surprise, Eren was giving another speech on why he was joining the Scouting Legoin, and not the Military Police. Link didn't pay it any mind, he didn't hate Eren, just his speaking. Over the course of the two years, he had become friends with Armin, and sort of friends with the other two.

Marco was alright, Jean was terrible, Reiner and Bertholdt were of no consequence, Annie he never spoke to and never cared to, Connie was decent but dim witted, Sasha? Oh boy, he had a list of things about here, she was too positive, and perky, and Link hated that.

Sure he was a nice guy, but this was the military, most of them were going to die to the threat they were trying to face. In these scenarios Link would always be one of the few survivors so he made a rule to never get attached, ever.

As the night drew to a close, Link looked at his hand and saw the Triforce piece was glowing. " _He must be getting close to arriving here. Ganondorf never was one of the patient type_ " Link thought as he sipped his drink, a tinge of fear drawing into his gut, or was that just what he was drinking? Probably the latter.

* * *

 ** _AN: This one was hard to write, just trying to capture the personalities of the characters, and attempting to write dialogue was so hard. In all honesty I feel like some of the parts were weak, but at the same time will be revisited later in flashbacks so yeah._**


	3. Trost in the Hero (Part 1)

**_AN: It was pointed out to me that Link came off as a little harsh, I did that on purpose. The reasons why he is like this will be explained later, as for now he may come off as a little jerkish._**

* * *

 _Year 850 Trost District_

It was the day of graduation, and all the Trainees were assigned special duties, such as wall defense maintenance, cleaning the captains office, etc. Link's job was to service the spare 3DMG, in case of emergency use. " _This is bad_ ," he thought, " _Ganondorf is on his way, I haven't been able to get any training in at all, and he has had 2 years to prepare for this._ "

As he continued to concentrate on how he would deal with the King of Evil in their inevitable confrontation, a call came out from the higher ups, "All soldiers, report to the fort courtyard, Captain Weilman is making an announcement!" Sighing, Link stood up and sprinted to the courtyard, " _This had better be good,_ " Link thought as he ran.

It was, Titans had invaded the city, and it was now their job to take them down, protecting the civilians as they evacuated. Listening to Weilman speak, Link was filled with disgust, " _Who does he think he is? Sending fresh recruits out to fight? He doesn't even have the decency to go out to battle with us. Need to stay behind to give orders? Just another word for cowardice. The blood from every casualty this fight will be on him._ "

As Link thought, the Captain brought his speech to a close, and gave the trainees the order to prep for battle. Looking around, Link saw panicked faces, people throwing up, Horseface skulking about how he was almost safe. Then something interesting happened, Jean bumped straight into Eren, and the two were almost at it again. Watching the confrontation with interest he listened to Eren's words, and he almost bust out laughing at how naïve he was. " _Years of training? Those won't save you, all they can do is make you last longer, even then only in some cases. Your training won't save you, you need to couple the skill from training and your mind. Skill is useless without thinking, just rushing in will get you killed, especially against a stronger opponent like the titans._ "

As Jean walked away, he noticed Mikasa walking up to Eren, and then those two had an exchange in words. By this point Link was bored and walked back to the supply room, to get geared up.

* * *

 _Hyrule- Ganon's Castle_

Ganondorf stood in the Portal room, it was almost time to go. Before he could leave however, he had a few preparations to make. Ganondorf knew Link, the Hero was known for his strategy and cunning.

While the Triforce pieces could pinpoint one another, Link was probably aware of this, and due to the portal being opened, was already aware of his coming. Because of this, Link had probably masked the Triforce of Courage, to prevent himself from being found easily.

So Ganondorf would need a strategy to flush him out. Leaving the Portal chamber, Ganondorf went to his organ room, he always could think better when he was playing.

* * *

 _Trost District_

Link was didn't even remember what group he was part of, he got separated from them at the very beginning, but that didn't bother him as he swung from building to building, taking out titans as he went along. Link was not impressed by the titans at all, after spending years fighting Ganondorf's creations, these were child's play.

Taking out titan after titan, he was beginning to look for his squad, he did want to be able to save anyone he could after all. After rounding a corner, he was able to see something he completely expected to happen. He saw Eren's squad, and the hothead himself was running after an abnormal that had just killed on of his squad members, not bothering to look around or consider what would happen to the ones that were still alive.

" _Such a fool_ ," he thought as he raced after them, " _there is nothing to be gained from avenging the dead._ " As he continued to follow them, he saw Eren get his leg bitten of from a small titan that jumped up, right before he could kill the abnormal. The result was hilarious, watching Eren spin out of control on the roofs tearing them up in the process.

Still catching up, he noticed that every other squad member, except Armin, was now caught by a titan. Letting out a sigh, Link took action. Adjusting his angle, he flew right at the first titan's nape and landed on it. After doing so he sheathed both of his blades, before spinning around drawing both of them for a double mortal draw.

The resulting strike killed the titan, and before it even begun to fall, he was off to the next, who was about to bite off the head of another squad member. This time, he flew straight downward, severing the hands of the titan, and landing on the ground. After he landed, he caught the dazed trainee before promptly dropping her.

Turning around, he began to taunt the titan who, because of the lack of hands, dove right at him. Jumping over the head of the titan, he came down full force on the nape, killing another one. As that one began to dissolve he turned his head to where Eren had just pulled Armin out of the maw of a bearded Titan, and had then been eaten, losing his arm in the process.

Rolling his eyes, he shook the dazed trainee next to him out of her trance, and collected the other one who was still alive. Bringing the two with him, he landed next to Armin, and seeing the gaze of the Titan on them, quickly shot straight towards its face, and stabbed it right in the eyes.

While the titan was blinded, he grabbed the stunned Armin, and beckoned the other two to follow him. He did not kill the titan, as there was no reason to, and it would have been a waste of time and gas. No his main concern was bringing those who were still alive to safety first, avenging the dead was always last on his priority list.

After getting them far enough away, he had them stop on a roof top. "You two, take care of him," Link instructed to Mina and Milus, "Try to find the other groups, there is safety in numbers." After getting a nod, of confirmation, Link sped back to look for the bearded titan, there was still a chance Eren was alive, and he was going to try as hard as he could to save him.

* * *

 _Hyrule- Future_

Link panted heavily as he took down another horde of monsters, his own forces beginning to dwindle from the constant attacks. He was used to it by this point, he had been fighting this war for ten years now, and it still showed no signs of stopping.

After he finished off the last monster, he began looking around the battlefield for survivors, on both sides. He searched for Hyrulian survivors first, to try and save anyone of his friends that he could, as for the monster side, he searched for survivors so he could slaughter them.

As he was looking he found one of his closest friends he had made from the knights of Hyrule. Rushing to his side, he found that he was gravely injured, and had seemed to have little chance of making it. As he began to carry him, he was stopped, by the very soldier he was carrying. The knight insisted that Link should get those that were still fine to safety first, that trying to bring back the wounded would only slow them down.

Save those who can still fight first, rather than risk them on a move that might not pay off. Reluctantly Link agreed, and quickly got those that were still relatively fine back to Hyrule Castle, promising to return to him as soon as he could. As he was about to head back, Zelda forbid him to go, saying that anyone out there would be long dead by now, and that he shouldn't worry about it anymore.

When Link would not obey, she threatened him with treason, and that was how it would start. Link would slowly lose respect for the Princess of Hyurle, the ruler due to the death of her father, the one who was too young to be ruling during a war. Link could have gone, but he didn't. Hyrule was his home, and despite being incredibly powerful, having both Ganondorf and Zelda against him would be too much for him for him to handle.

Later in the war he would come across the cursed form of his friend, who accused him of not honoring his promise, and that he was worse than Ganondorf. Link knew that it was the Evil King trying to get to him, but it still hit him hard. " _Never again_ ," he promised himself, " _I will always try to save someone_."

* * *

 _Trost- Present Day_

Link never forgot that day, he carried with him through the rest of the war. He carried it with him when he once more returned to his own time by returning the Master Sword. He carried it with him during the war he was fighting until he was sent here, and he carried it with him now.

Upon surveying the District, he found the titan he was looking for, just not in the way he was expecting. The bearded titan now had a gigantic hole in its back, and there was a new 15 meter class nearby, killing any titan that got in its path.

Link, being a genius in all things of transformation, instantly put two and two together. As he went to follow it however, he found that he had run out of gas. Sighing, Link took off, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, trying to keep the new titan in sight. As he was doing so, he was able to witness it saving Mikasa, who was out of gas as well.

After that he watched as she, Armin, and Connie killed any titan in the immediate area to get the titan to go to HQ. " _Must have been Armin who thought of that,_ " Link thought, " _Connie is too dim witted, and Mikasa must have heard of Eren's death by now, she would have been in no condition to think._ "

He followed them up to the point where they went into HQ, by that point he stopped and looked behind him. There far off, he noticed a large boulder that looked like it could plug the hole in the wall. Turning back to the titan killing titan he got an idea, should he be right about who that titan was.

After some time, the titan began to get overwhelmed by the other titans, who had began eating it. As he watched, a sound had caught his ear, there were people scaling the walls. Turning his head he noticed there was around six people that were not leaving, Jean, Annie, Reiner, Bertholdt, Armin, and Mikasa.

He was watching them, when he noticed their heads turn, looking In the direction they were, he saw the titan that had eaten the first of Eren's squad members. What happened next completely removed any doubt of that Rouge Titan's identity, as it charged forward and killed the abnormal by biting its nape. Then using the dead titan's body it killed the remaining titans in the area, before letting out an enormous roar.

Shortly after it collapsed and begun decomposing, and a figure began to emerge. At this point Link was already in action, " _If we saw it others will have seen it too and if they are anything like that captain, he won't be welcomed back with open arms,_ " he thought as he raced to the now emerged Eren. Before anyone on HQ could see his or Eren's face, he threw a Deku Nut, and disappeared in the flash.

* * *

 ** _AN: And that is the end of another one, I hope it was passable. I was going to make it longer, but after writing the last sentence, I just felt like that was a good note to end this chapter on and finish the fight for Trost District in the next part. As always, reviews with advice are appreciated._**


	4. Trost in the Hero (Part 2)

**_AN: Ok so it's been a bit since I updated this one, and I figured that while I was writing the chapter for "The Return" I would try and crank one out for this one as well._**

* * *

 _Trost District_

Link landed on one of the higher up rooftops to try and stay out of the titans range, he had very little gas at the moment, plus he was dragging a half unconscious Eren with him, he wanted to avoid fighting if at all possible. The reason for why he had gone in as quickly as he did, and then take off? That was easy, Link had enough experience to know the impact of fear, and he didn't need a second guess to know what the military's reaction would be to seeing a human emerge from the corpse of a titan.

Sure there may be some of those who could see past it, but the memory of the cowardly captain from before stuck in his mind. No Eren would be seen as the enemy if he went back right now. They needed a way to prove that he was on the side of humanity before going back, and Link was starting to get a pretty good idea of how to do that.

His planning was disrupted by the sound of Eren beginning to stir from his dazed state.

* * *

The first thing Eren took in was that he was on a roof, in the middle of Trost, before a voice he recognized cut though the silence. "Welcome back to the world of the living," Link began facing away from Eren.

"Wha- Link? Where am I, what happened?"

"Do you want the long version or the abridged version?"

"Uh, short version?"

"Basically you got eaten by a titan, then proceeded to somehow turn into a titan yourself going on a complete and total titan killing rampage before collapsing from exhaustion to where you appeared from the nape of the titan you were in, to which I grabbed you and ran off in a hurry to avoid being spotted by the others."

"Others, what others?"

"Those who managed to survive the operation, no thanks to you."

"What is that supposed to mean," Eren shouted no standing up. Link turned to face the titan-shifter, "What I mean is that when you saw your squadmate get eaten, you rushed in without thinking, not checking your surroundings, and certainly not communicating with your teammates to let them know what you were about to do."

"What does that have to do with anything, that son of a bitch killed Thomas!"

"What does that matter, he was already dead when you went after the thing that killed him, so why did you do it?"

"I was going to avenge him!"

"What would the point have been, avenging a death caused by an unintelligent species? The only thing that you accomplished was putting your teammates right into the titan's hands because they were to busy to worry about their own lives because you went off like a jackass for no good reason!"

Eren's eyes widened, "I didn't mean for, I didn't think-"

"Obviously you didn't think, but it doesn't matter now, luckily for your consciousness, I happened to come along and save your friends from the titans, so if they did indeed die it wasn't because of you. Now onto more important matters, you came out of a titan, the military is going to be afraid of you, and will likely incarcerate you as soon as they can, or just outright try to kill you. So we need a way to prove that you are indeed on the side of humanity, and not a brainless creature that wants to eat humanity. Are you ready?"

Eren turned to look at Link, his head racing, " _I nearly caused my friends to be killed, I myself nearly got killed, should I really be here? Never mind that now, I apparently have some sort of titan power that can be used for the sake of mankind, but how do I use it, the last thing I remember is being swallowed. Damn it why can't I remember_!"

"Well Eren, I'm waiting for your answer, will you use your power to prove that you are an ally of humanity?." Eren steeled his expression and stared Link directly in the eyes, "I don't know how to use it."

* * *

 _Wall Rosa_

Armin was pacing on the top of the wall, he was desperately trying to figure out what exactly was going on with that Rogue titan, as well as the loss of his best friend. Just when they thought they were going to find out who was the one in control of the titan, someone else swoops in, and whisks him away.

So while he was trying to figure out the mystery behind the titan, Mikasa was looking at the Trost District with her finer tuned senses trying to get a lock on who was the mysterious kidnapper. It wasn't long before she got something, out on the highest roof, she could make out two shapes that appeared to resemble people.

Nudging Armin she pointed him in the direction of what she saw, and the two nodded at each other. Sticking together, the two sped of in hopes of solving the mystery of the rouge titan. They were very careful to only use gas when they needed to, and they made sure to take the route with the least amount of titans. It wasn't long before Mikasa was able to make out the two figures she saw before, and as soon as she did her eyes widened in disbelief.

* * *

 _Trost District_

Link was busy thinking of a new plan, without the abilities of Eren's titan form, this would become much more difficult. With the Golden Gauntlets he could lift the bolder, but that wouldn't clear Eren's name, and it would put him under suspicion as well. Plus he couldn't defend himself from titans while he was carrying the thing and Eren was in no condition to fight right now.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud crashing sound from behind, as well as a startled shout from Eren, followed by the sounds of someone, most likely female, crying. Turning his head he saw that Eren's two closest friends Mikasa and Armin had found them, and that the former currently had Eren in a grip so tight, it would hurt a goron.

Armin was just standing off to the side watching as Eren attempted to push Mikasa off of him, to no avail. The blonde boy jumped a little when he heard someone talking right next to him, turning his head he saw it was Link, who was standing with his arms folded looking at the scene in front of them.

"I'm not sure what's more surprising, the fact that he managed to survive, or the fact that he is still completely obilivous to how she feels about him." Armin had a surprised look for a moment before smirking, "I know right? I had to grow up with them like this, it gets kinda painful to watch sometimes."

Link chuckled a bit at that statement, before retorting, "I take it you understand why I grabbed him when I did." Armin nodded, "The Military would have seen him as dangerous and that we couldn't trust him, which would most likely lead to his execution on the spot." "Exactly, also just so you know we don't have to worry about titans up here, they're being drawn to the people on the wall right now."

There was silence between the two for a moment before Link piped up, "Ten silver on them not getting together within the year." "You're on," Armin replied as they shook hands. Speaking of Eren and Mikasa, thanks to Mikasa's high speed tackle, Eren got a good shaking which happened to bring into view they key that he always wore around his neck, sparking some memories.

Managing to stand up with Mikasa backing off a little bit, he spoke, "Link, I know how to access it."

* * *

 _Hyrule- Ganon's Castle_

Ganondorf was watching Link interact with the natives of the dimension he had banished the hero to. He wasn't particularly interested in the locals, he was listening in to figure out which monster to send to ruin whatever they were planning. Right now he had it narrowed down to about 3 choices, and was having trouble deciding.

As he continued to watch, he remembered all the casualties that occurred during this event which gave him an evil idea. Finalizing his decision he began to summon the monster, not noticing the figure lurking in the shadow, waiting for its chance.

* * *

 _Trost District_

"That's the plan, any questions," Armin and Link finished. "Yeah, how are we supposed to take on all of those titans, when there's only four of us, and evvwn then I'll be preoccupied carrying the bolder?"

"You will carry the bolder, I'll draw the majority of the titans away from you three, to which Armin and Mikasa will protect you from the few that may remain as you seal the breach."

"How will you draw away so many titans at once?" "I have my ways, but the best chance of it happening, is to let me draw them away first, and then have Eren transform, so if they do decide to go after him at least they'll have a longer distance to cover." Eren was about to ask another question when a crackling sound cut him off overhead.

Link knew that sound, it was the same kind of sound that occurred when Ganondorf was opening a portal, the same kind of portal that sent him here in the first place. Not a second later, the portal opened right in front of the damaged wall, and out came something that made Link growl in frustration. The other three could only stare, they had never seen anything like it before, but the biggest shock came when they heard Link mutter out the word, "Molgera."

* * *

"Change of plan, you three will be on your own, I'm going to go and prevent that thing from destroying the inner wall." Without any time for the three to question him, Link had taken off and prepared to intercept the monstrosity that awaited him.

The Shiganshia trio looked at each other before collectively turning and running toward the bolder that rested in the residential district, hopefully Eren could move the bolder as a titan. Once they reached their destination, Eren swung directly at it, biting his thumb causing an orange bolt to descend from the sky as he transformed into the Rogue Titan once more.

Mikasa was in such awe, she barely had enough time to register, and then dodge, the incoming punch that came from Eren. Eren continued to attack until she landed on his face trying to get through to him. This prompted Eren to punch himself in the face, knocking himself out. Mikasa landed next to Armin as they gazed upon the slumped form of Titan Eren, this was not good.

* * *

Link had managed to get in front of the Molgera before it reached the wall, and using his bow launched a bomb arrow directly at its eye to draw its attention. Needless to say it worked, and now he had a gigantic monster chasing him down. Link wasn't worried though, this wasn't the first time he's been in a situation like this, far from it, he had survived then, and he would survive now.

As the Molgera closed in on him, he pulled out his hookshot, took aim, steadied himself, and fired directly at the tongue. As expected it was a direct hit, and now that he had the beast on the chain, using the power of the Golden Gauntlets, Link swung the beast into some prime real estate, and ran in for the kill.

As the Molgera tried to burrow its way into the ground, Link ran up dove at the tongue, and drawing his blades as he went past, severed it clean off killing the beast. Not waiting for the monster to explode, Link sped off to give assistance to Eren, Armin, and Mikasa, only to be blocked by a large amount of Iron Knuckles heading towards the wall.

Putting his frustration aside once more, Link ran to defend the wall again, hoping that the other three would be able to finish the plan without him.

* * *

Back with the other three, Armin had jumped onto Eren's nape and had proceeded to stab him in the back of the neck in an attempt to communicate with him. Upon reminding him about the outside world, Eren's fire was renewed and the Rogue Titan rose with a mighty roar.

Not wasting anymore time, he proceeded to pick up the bolder, barely, and began to walk it towards the breach. Instantly titans grew aware of the approaching titan and began to converge, there was way too many for Armin or Mikasa to handle, the plan was going to fail.

* * *

 _Wall Rosa_

Dot Pixis was a simple man, he had simple goals, simple hobbies, and simple wishes. So when he saw that a giant monster was headed towards the gate, he was about to call men to arms as soon as he could. That was before the monster changed direction and without any sort of reason died and then exploded, in its absence he was able to notice the giant figure of a 15m titan carrying a bolder towards the hole in the wall that titans were entering from.

At that point the answer was simple, give aid to whatever that thing was, and allow it to close the hole, giving them the chance to reclaim Trost District and prevent the loss of Wall Rosa. Shifting his focus he turned to face the soldiers that were currently amassed on the safe side of Wall Rosa, and prepared to give the best speech of his life.

* * *

 _Trost District_

Link had finished with the Iron Knuckles, and from the looks of things, there were no more monsters that were going to appear anymore. He then took notice of the bolder being carried above rooftops and knew that Eren was now carrying the bolder, victory was one step closer.

Not wanting to leave the others alone for any longer than needed, he was about to speed off, when sounds above his head caught his attention. Looking up, he saw defense force soldiers and trainees zooming across the district towards the titans.

Link could only hope that they were headed to give aid, and not to bring down their one hope of survival. Following their example, Link pulled out his hookshot, and sped off in the same direction, hoping for once, he could be on time to save the life of a friend.

* * *

Mikasa and Armin were at their limit, yet still titan upon titan, came towards Eren. The two could not hold out much longer, and failed to notice a 12m approaching from behind, it wasn't until it had gotten a hold of Armin that they realized it was there. Mikasa launched herself and managed to kill the titan, but in doing so Eren was left unprotected as more titans drew closer to him.

There wasn't enough time, they were too close to the gate so more and more titans were coming in, causing them to have to fight more titans upon the ones that were already in. Things were looking bleak, until an arrow zipped by, burrowing itself in the nape of the titan about to take a bite of Eren's back, and then exploding killing the titan.

When the two looked to see where the arrow had come from, they were greeted with the sight of soldiers coming to help defend. A gray haired female soldier landed next to them and began, "I don't know why you two were down here before us but that doesn't matter right now. First continue to help defend that thing, and then give us the full story, and we may forgive you for treason." Armin and Mikasa nodded before getting back into the fight.

Link had just put his bow away and was now jumping form rooftop to rooftop trying to get back into the fight, but a voice stopped him in his tracks, "Hello Hero." Link turned to face the one that had spoken, "It's been awhile, Ganondorf."

* * *

The defense force was fighting the titans back, and Eren had finally reached the hole, only one titan remained in his way. Mikasa charged forward, and after a little help from Rico managed to bring down the last titan.

With a mighty thrust Eren jammed the bolder into the breach, sealing it and sending shockwaves from where the two connected. There was a collective silence as everyone took in what happened, humanity had its first victory over the titans.

Pixis gave the order for recall, but there was no celebration, too many losses for that. Back at the breach Mikasa and Armin were still trying to detach Eren from the titan body, Rico finally had enough and slashed him free at the arms, causing Armin and Eren to fall to the ground.

Behind them two titans approached, even with Mikasa they still stood no chance. Just as one was started to reach for the two on the ground, a spinning figure came down, killing one before changing direction and slaughtering the other.

The figure landed on the corpse of the second titan and addressed those on the ground, "Care to explain what the hell is going on here?"

* * *

Link started Ganondorf down, "Finally here to kill me?" "No, I'm not actually here right now, just an illusion. I'm only here to let you know, that I'm going to absolutely destroy you, everything about you, your reputation, everything you hold dear will be taken for you, then I'll kill you."

"Just try it King of Evil, see what happens." "Good to see you haven't changed one bit, give me a good challenge this time." With than the image of Ganondorf faded and Link was left standing alone on the rooftop.

* * *

 _ **AN: Finally got around to writing this. With Breath Of The Wild's launch I decided to update the story that had Legend of Zelda in it, maybe there will be more in the future, who knows. Until next time.**_


	5. Showing Off

**_AN: So I finally decided I would work on another chapter of Hero's Fall, and there is something I would like to address. A guest reviewer mentioned that I made Link too emotionless and not in character enough, I did that on purpose. There is an explanation for why Link is acting the way he is, and it will be addressed later for one of the main plot points. There was also another thing in the message I didn't quite understand about Zelda and the Triforce, so if you're reading this then please explain further as I did not quite understand what you were saying from that. With that back to the story._**

* * *

 _Wall Sina- Underground Dungeon_

Eren woke with a start, only to find himself in a cell on a bed. Taking in his surrounding he took notice of two men that were on the other side of the bars watching him.

One was blonde and sitting down, the other was standing, though one would think he was sitting with his height. Eren felt for his key, only to find that it was not around his neck like it had been. "Looking for this," the blonde man spoke up holding the key in his hand.

Before Eren could even react the man continued, "Do not worry it will be returned to you in due time. Now will you answer some questions for us?" Eren still did not know what to think, but he hesitantly nodded, trying not to aggravate his interrogators.

"Good, now please tell us: Are you titan, or are you human?"

* * *

 _Wall Sina- Soldier Mess Hall_

Armin and Mikasa sat together at the table eating their breakfast, they were sworn to silence on the whole matter of Eren much to their friends' annoyance. Link was sitting by himself thinking on what the future would hold.

First was the matter of choosing what military branch he would be in, though this was an obvious choice, the Scouting Legion. Out of all the branches this one seemed to fit him best, it was almost like the three military divisions were based off the Triforce itself.

Power was for the Military Police who had the most authority and were the most unstable. Wisdom was for the Garrison who defended the home front and protected those inside, despite making mistakes.

Then there was the Scouts who courageously went out into the unknown at the risk of their own lives, for the sake of others. This was a small matter in Link's mind however, the thought that took precedence over that was Ganondorf's threat.

Link had no doubt the King of Evil would hold his end of the bargain if given the oppurtunity, so he had to prepare himself to not give him that chance. He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of someone standing up quickly. Looking over he saw Mikasa with a horrified look on her face, and it seemed as if she were about to start crying at any moment.

Link could guess what was bothering her, Eren was most likely going to be executed because of those spoiled fools within Wall Sina. She shouldn't worry though, he wouldn't allow Eren to be killed, he may see the titan-shifter as an idiot, but that doesn't mean he hates him. A guard then came in the room and called Mikasa, Link, and Armin, ordering them to follow.

They were to stand witness at Eren's trial.

* * *

 _Hyrule- Ganon's Castle_

Ganondorf looked over what he had done with an evil smile, yes it was good to be bad. Lined up in front of him were the bodies of all of those who were killed during the attack on Trost by the titans, or otherwise. It wouldn't take him long to turn this corpses into his most valuable weapons against the Hero.

Well second most valuable, there was one creature he had that would do even better, the one he was going to send after the Hero in a few short days. Ganondorf let out an evil laugh, his victory was nigh, he would finally destroy the hero once and for all.

* * *

 _Wall Sina- Courtroom_

Eren was brought into the courtroom with his hands restrained behind his back, and was chained to a pole in the center of the room. He had been acquainted with the higher ups of the Scouting Legion by this point, and was putting his trust in them to get him out of this mess.

Looking around he took notice of Mikasa, Armin, Link, Erwin, Levi, and many others in the stands around him. " _What are they doing here_ ," Eren thought to himself as Commander-in-Chief Darius Zackly began the meeting.

"You are Eren Yeager? You are a soldier who devoted his life to humanity, correct?"

"Yes sir."

"This is an unprecedented case. It is outside the bounds of common law, therefore we must convene a special court martial. Final judgement will be handed down by me. We will deliberate on whether you live or die, any objections?"

"None sir."

"I'm glad you're so cooperative. I'll be blunt, concealing your existence has proven impossible. Unless we publicize your existence in some way, we will have to face another threat beside the titans. This court is tasked with deciding who will take custody of you, the Scouting Legion or the Military Police. First let us hear from the Military Police."

" _Oh good_ " thought Link, " _I was missing my daily dose of stupidity_."

"Your Honor, I am Nile Dawk, Commander of the Military Police. Our proposition is as follows: We will examine Eren's body thoroughly, then dispose of him as soon as possible. It's a fact that his titan powers repelled the last attack, however his character induces disturbances that may even lead to a rebellion. Therefore he shall provide us with as much intelligence as possible, then become a martyr for humanity."

Link was face palming by this point, " _How stupid can you be, this guy is a hero to all the people in Wall Rosa. If you killed him and the truth came out about how it happened, that would cause an even bigger rebellion_."

While Link was thinking this, Pastor Nick had given his two cents on what should happen to Eren, before being silenced by the judge, who had then requested the Scouting Legion to give their proposal.

"Your Honor, I am Erwin Smith, thirteenth commander of the Scouting Legion. Our proposition is as follows: We shall accept Eren as a formal member of the Scouts and recapture Wall Maria using his titan powers. That is all." Zackly had a small look of surprise on his face almost as if he were expecting more.

'Is that all,' the commander in chief asked. "Yes using his abilities we can retake wall Maria, I believe the priorities are clearly apparent."

Link zoned out again not really caring about the debate at that time, he was too busy focusing on masking the presence of the Triforce of Courage, so Ganondorf couldn't find him. Though he did manage to catch Nile's remark of "I believe her testimony is too biased to be accepted in court. Mikasa Ackerman lost her parents at a young age and she was taken in by Yeager family-,"

"Your lack of intelligence is only matched by your lack of courage," Link interrupted. The room fell dead silent, all eyes turned to Link, Nile looked like he was ready to kill on the spot.

"What did you say," Nile shouted at the hero.

"You should get your hearing checked, everyone else got it the first time, and yet you need clarification."

"How dare you, you little-,"

"Shut up, I don't want to hear your nonsense anymore, first off you get a new weapon against the titans on a silver platter, and your first idea is to dissect him to prevent a rebellion. Well I'll tell you one thing, the people in Wall Rosa see him as a beacon of hope, and if it gets out that you killed him because you feared what he could do against you, then you will have a rebellion. Next you talk about how he attacked Mikasa Ackerman in titan form, but ignore the fact that in that form he saved her first, and then proceeded to seal the breach in the Wall. Oh silly me I forgot, that wasn't an issue for you, since you live a nice cushy life in the inner wall, you wouldn't even bat an eye for the deaths that would be caused by Rosa being breached, no you would care about the fact that refugees would be admitted making your perfect life not so perfect. Lastly you call her testimony too biased to be accepted in court, when she stated facts and not opinions. Her viewpoint has nothing to do with the fact that she was saved by Eren, and then attacked by him, which he has shown no memory of either event happening. So maybe instead of trying to pull stuff out of your ass to get what you want, look at the facts and realize that if you really want to make things better for yourself, shut your mouth and stop making yourself look like such a moron!"

By this point everyone was looking at Link in shock, except Levi, Erwin, and Zackly, the first having an amused look on his face. Nile quickly snapped himself out of his daze before ordering the immediate capture of Link.

As the soldiers surrounded Link he just smirked and said, "Oh, looks like I hit a nerve there." Before Link could even be touched by the soldiers, Zackly called for order in the court, saying he had come to a decision.

"Eren Yeager shall be put in the custody of the Scouting Legion, my decision is final. Also Dawk, tell your soldiers to stand down, and learn to take some criticism."

Nile looked at the judge in shock, but quickly changed his expression to a murderous glare, which he directed at Link. The hero gave him a smug look, only increasing the animosity the MP chief held for him.

Link didn't really care, there was only one person he had any amount of fear for.

* * *

Link returned to the trainee quarters, it was almost time to choose what regiment to join. Since they were no longer going to be trainees, he figured it was time to gather his stuff.

As he was getting the last of his things together, a loud crashing sound snapped through the air, followed by the screams of several trainees. Rushing to his feet, Link took off towards the sound only to be met with a sight that made his blood run cold.

Two Armoghomas were tearing through the training grounds, skewering and devouring any unlucky soldier that got near them. Link was actually concerned about this, there was no clear way to penetrate their armor, any attack he tried would just bounce off them. There was no straightforward kill method in this case.

Before Link could come up with a plan, more of the experienced soldiers shot forward, attempting to save those that were trapped in the monsters web.

"No don't," Link shouted, "It's too late!" But his cries fell on deaf ears, and less than a second later the soldiers were gone. Seeing this brought out the anger in Link, he may not have been able to save those soldiers, but he would make sure no one else would die to those beasts.

Without a word, Link threw aside his 3DMG, and started walking toward one of the Armoghomas. The arachnid seemed to take notice of the approaching hero and started to charge towards him. Right as it lunged at him, Link rolled off to the side and drew his Gilded Sword.

Despite knowing that a head on attack would be useless, Link charged at the beast's side and swung. As expected, no damage was given and he had secured the monster's attention. Sheathing his blade Link turned and ran straight into the forest, the Armoghoma following close behind.

As soon as he got into the cover of the trees he realized that the giant spider was no longer behind him. Looking around he tried to catch sight of it to no avail, this prompted him to dash to the side. Not a moment later, the beast crashed straight onto the ground where he had been standing. Seeing that it had missed, it retreated back up into the treetops once more. Link was ready for it this time, pulling his bow out he began to scan for the giant yellow eye he knew so well.

He found it not a moment too soon, and quickly launched an arrow right at it, hitting a perfect bulls-eye. As the creature fell to the ground, Link sprinted to the nearest tree, pulled out his longshot, and zipped up to the treetops, passing by Armoghoma on the way up. As soon as he heard the loud crash of the collision with the ground, he jumped off, and began falling straight down.

Lining himself up, he drew his Megaton Hammer and began to spin in the air. Just as the monster seemed like it was going to get up, Link landed a blow with the hammer dead center on the midsection, causing a major fracture.

Standing up, a powerful blast knocked Link to the ground, flinging the Megaton Hammer out of his hand, he had forgotten about the second one. Getting to his feet, he dove out of the way of the burning laser and assessed his situation. He was in a bad spot, two Armoghomas at the same time, and his main crushing weapon was out of reach.

By this time the first Armoghoma had gotten back up, putting even more pressure on, though it seemed like the blow from the hammer weakened its legs, so it couldn't climb up trees anymore. The Armoghoma on the ground lunged once more at Link, only for the Hero to sidestep and cause the creature to crash into a tree.

A second later Link drew his bow, and, going two for two, shot the second Armoghoma down. Rushing up Link lifted the second one, and threw it right on top of the first. Grabbing the Megaton Hammer, Link sprinted to the back of the tree the spiders were squirming under and swung as hard as he could.

The trunk was already weakened from one of the Armoghoma's lunges, so Link's swing was enough to cause the tree to collapse, right on top of the monsters. The two arachnids squirmed for a few seconds, before going dark and exploding, the actual creature being exposed. Two Ice Arrows later and the beasts were no more, leaving Link alone in the forest.

As Link returned back to the camp, he found that just like the titan invasion, there were no bodies left over from those that had been killed. Link knew what that meant, and it only made his rage grow.

It wasn't much later that the elite Levi Squad arrived looking to take care of the giant spiders. Upon hearing of how they had followed a trainee into the forest, and the same trainee had come out again unscathed, one of them decided to go pay a visit.

Link was finally getting everything gathered when the door burst open and Levi walked in. "Can I help you," Link asked, not particularly fond of the rude entrance.

"Did you really kill those things, or are they still lurking in the forest," Levi asked with his typical stone cold expression. Link narrowed his eyes, "Trust me, its dead."

"You're telling me that a single trainee, one that wasn't even on the top ten, managed to kill two spider behemoths, creatures that even veteran soldiers couldn't handle, alone?"

Link only nodded in response. Levi gave him a look of disbelief for a few minutes before sighing as motioning with his hand, "Follow me, there are some people who I'd like you to meet." Levi departed shortly after, with Link hesitantly following after him.

* * *

 ** _AN: And there we go, another one down. It took some time but I finally managed to get this one written, sorry for the wait. Hope to have another chapter up by next month._**


	6. We all need control

_**AN: Wow this story got more popular than I was expecting, but I guess that's thanks to the one and only Zeldro. I was surprised to find that he had started following the story, and even more surprised that he had given it a shout-out in his much better story of "To Hyrule and Back Again" which actually was part of my inspiration to write this. So it's a huge honor to have him in the audience. Anyway it seems like the last chapter was well received so I'm gonna try and continue to make this story something that is fun to read.**_

* * *

 _Wall Rose_

Seven horses dashed through a forest, the riders of these horses were the Special Ops squad of the Scouting Legion. After his victory over the two Armoghomas, as well as the thought of Eren having a squad mate with him to make him feel a bit more at ease, Link had been recruited by Levi.

The hero in question was currently riding next to Eren, and due to this they both were catching Oluo's attempt to intimidate them, but as usual Link was not paying attention. He had been wary ever since the Armoghoma attack, so he was paying much more attention to his surroundings.

Ganondorf was playing a game with him, and Link always played to win. Link paused his thoughts for a moment to see Oluo bite his tongue as they were riding, before making a mental note to save that memory for later.

Link soon turned his thoughts to Eren, there was work to be done there. Yes the titan power may have allowed for the reclaiming of Trost, but Eren seemed to have little control over it. Link knew better than most, a power that you can't control really isn't yours.

That was one day he would never forget, how could he, it was the main reason he didn't like getting attached to people in the first place.

* * *

 _Hyrule Future- Lake Hylia_

Link finished dispatching another group of monsters, the battle was almost over. It was year 6 of the Great Hyrulian War, between the armies of Hyrule and the hordes of Ganon.

Hyrulian reconnaissance had delivered intel that there was a large quantity of monsters occupying Lake Hylia, naturally Link volunteered his squad to lead the attack. Victory here would put a huge dent in Ganon's current forces and cut him off from easy access to Zora's Domain.

So far the monsters were putting up little fight and it seemed like it was going to be over quickly. It was at that moment it began to rain, followed by a powerful gale blowing most of the Hylians of their feet. Turning to look at what was causing it, Link caught sight of Ganondorf standing in front of the lake.

Wordlessly Ganondorf extended his hand and from out of the waters many Darknuts, Iron Knuckles, and Dinalfos emerged, with Ganondorf teleporting right after.

As the monsters approached Link noticed that there was something different about them. The Darknuts armor seemed thicker and the Iron Knuckles were moving faster. The Dinalfos seemed the same until Link hacked one of their heads off, only for it to regrow before the old one hit the ground.

With these monsters, and the winds, the Hyrulian forces were quickly being overwhelmed, even Link was having trouble with them. He couldn't cut through the Darknuts armor as quickly, giving them more time to counter attack, the Iron Knuckles he couldn't get near without being hit, and the Dinalfos just would not die and stay dead.

It was at this fight that Link came up with the Ending Blow hidden skill allowing to kill the Dinalfos, but that was not enough to turn the tides, it wasn't long before the monsters literally had the remaining soldiers backed up against the wall.

Link was too far away to stop them, so seeing no other alternative he put on the Fierce Deity Mask. The monsters seemed to be aware of his transformation and rushed him, leaving the soldiers alone. The new monsters may have been stronger but that wasn't enough to withstand the power Link now possessed. With one swing he cleaved clean through three of the approaching Darknuts, and the resulting beam took out another 2. A Dinalfos tried to charge him, but even its regenerating abilities couldn't save it this time.

After that Link took off slashing through anything that stood in his way swinging wildly and full of rage. Armor flew left and right as howls of pain ripped through the air. Once he got to the last monster he grabbed it by the throat, threw it in the air, and chopped it into mincemeat before it could hit the ground.

With its work done Link took off the Fierce Deity Mask and returned to his normal form. Looking at the lake he noticed part of it was now a deep blood red, which brought confusion to Link's eyes. " _Monster's don't leave blood,_ " Link thought to himself, " _So whose is it?_ "

Turning his head to look behind him, his eyes soon turned from confusion to horror as he beheld the mutilated bodies of his squad. Link ran up to them trying to see if any of them were still alive. As he was inspecting the bodies he heard coughing, quickly he tried to find the source.

Once he found the wounded soldier, he approached him so he could tend to the wounds. However when the soldier saw Link, he began screaming, "Get away from me! Stay back!" After shouting this he succumbed to his wounds and died.

The soldier's screams echoed in Link's ears and time seemed to slow as the pieces began to fall into place. The wounds on the soldiers were like no wounds that any monster of Ganondorf's would make, and the soldier's reaction to seeing him, it was too obvious. Link was the person who had slaughtered them, and he had no memory of doing so.

Link's legs gave out under him as the rainfall increased to a torrential downpour. It wasn't long before Link could no longer tell his tears from the rain that washed away the blood of his fallen comrades.

* * *

 _Wall Rose-Scouting Legion HQ- Present_

Since then Link had never used the Fierce Deity Mask, unless there was no alternative other than death. Unlike him however, Eren would be required to use his power by superiors, so he would need to learn how to control it.

Link snapped back to reality as they arrived at their destination of the old Scouting Legion Headquarters. This is where Eren would be kept and supervised for the foreseeable future.

It wasn't long before Levi had the whole squad dusting the old castle till it sparkled. Link just cleaned his rooms by clearing everything out, playing the Song of Storms to call upon winds to blow all the dust away, and put everything back again.

Needless to say, the Levi squad was very confused at how he was done so quickly. Even Levi was appeased with the job he had done, unlike Eren.

* * *

 _Later that night_

The Levi Squad was sitting in the dining room drinking tea and conversing about their new mission and squad members. Link wasn't really paying attention as usual, he was listening for any sounds of Ganondorf's minions once more, he did not want to be blindsided by an Argorok or other monster of that caliber.

It wasn't until a loud *THUNK* emitted from the door that he took notice of what was going on. The female of the group, Petra, opened the door, and in came another woman who was holding her forehead with one hand.

"Good evening, gentlemen of squad Levi have you made yourself at home?"

Link was wondering what was up with her when Levi spoke "You're early," before sipping some tea.

"How could I stay put now?"

"Squad Leader Hange," Eren asked in confusion.

"Sorry for the wait Eren. I'm charged with experimenting on the two titans we caught alive in the city, I want you to help me out with tomorrow's experiments. I came to ask permission for that."

"An experiment? What am I supposed to-."

"What else but that totally awesome thing you do," Hange cut him off with a crazed expression on her face.

Link noticed how uncomfortable the Levi Squad seemed to be in her presence, it was kind of comical actually.

"Um, I can't give permission myself. I don't have authority over myself you see."

"Levi what are Eren's plans for tomorrow?"

Levi gave a blank look, "Cleaning the garden."

"Okay then, it's decided, I'll be counting on you tomorrow Eren!"

"Yes ma'am. But what exactly are these experiments?"

"Hm," Hange tilted her head in a way that reflected light off her glasses.

"Um what exactly are these experiments."

Oluo whispered to Eren quickly, "Stop that. Don't ask her."

"Ah I knew it, you just had this expression like you wanted to know."

Link took notice of everyone leaving and quickly asked Eld "Hey where is everyone going?"

Eld whispered with a nervous look on his face, "When she gets going, she will talk all night and can get a little bit crazy when doing so."

With that the original members of the Levi Squad vacated the room. Link walked over to the remaining two in the room in time to hear Hange say "Were you that interested? Then I've got no choice. I guess I got to tell you what I know about those pretties we caught earlier."

" _Yeah okay, she's nuts,_ " Link thought as he grabbed Eren's shoulder. "That sounds nice and all, but Eren and I have some things we need to discuss right now, so we can resume this conversation never."

"I beg your pardon but who are you," Hange asked with an irritated tone.

"My name is Link, I'm the new member of the Levi Squad." Hange stared at him a second longer before her eyes filled with rage.

"You're the recruit who killed those two behemoth spiders!"

"Yeah, what of it."

"You killed them, they could have provided vital information about the titans, like if there are other forms of them are not."

Link narrowed his eyes into a glare that Levi would back down from.

"Trust me, those spiders and titans have nothing to do with one another."

Hange backed away a bit, "Okay fine, you two can talk for tonight, Eren I can tell you about the experiments some other time."

With that she got up and departed, seemingly sulking a bit.

"Why did you do that, I was curious about what she was talking about."

Link sat down at the table, "She apparently can talk all night long, and we have more important things to discuss at the moment."

"What is it"

"You attacked MIkasa when you turned into a titan."

Eren's face hardened, "Would you stop bringing that up, it happened, and I blame myself enough about it already."

"No it needs to be brought up, you don't have control over your titan form yet, until you do you're a threat to everybody. Just be thankful you didn't kill anyone last time you lost control."

Eren was silent for a moment before speaking, "Can you help me gain control?"

Link smirked, "That's why I shooed away crazy lady to do just that."

Link paused for a moment, looked around the room to make sure they were alone. "What happens here stays here, got that?" Eren looked confused but answered in the affirmative.

"Good, now close your eyes and clear your mind."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Hesitantly Eren did so, but his eyes almost shot open when he felt Link's hands grasp his head.

"Keep your eyes closed and keep concentrating." Eren kept his eyes closed and felt a strange sensation almost like he was moving.

"Ok, open your eyes," he heard Link say.

Opening them he found he was no longer in the dining room, he was now in an area that seemed to go up forever, and a giant stone face at the top. In front of him there were three buttons and scattered all over the walls were three cubes of stone, with various designs.

"I come from far away," Link began from beside him, "and from there is a myth of a impenetrable fortress that has stood for longer than anyone can remember, this is that place. Welcome Eren to the Stone Tower."

* * *

 ** _AN: Sorry for the wait, but I lacked motivation to write this chapter. The problem is that most chapters I write are inspired by one or more songs, this one however had didn't have one so it was much more difficult for me to write. School is out though, so updates may become more frequent._**


	7. A very mental Hero

_**AN: Now that school's out for me, I have a lot more free time on my hands, so updates may become more common. To clarify some confusion, the Hyrule future scene was a flashback, so sorry if I didn't make that clear. Now back to the story.**_

* * *

 _Stone Tower_

Eren looked up at the Stone Tower in wonder, trying to wrap his head around what happened. "How, how did we get here? I mean we were in the dining room and now-."

"We're still there, this is your subconscious, during my travels I learned how to control my mind, and later I learned several skills to help other people do the same."

Eren looked at Link in shock, "Wait this is all in my head?"

Link nodded, "I know I'm surprised too, I was expecting it to be smaller."

"What's that supposed to mean," Eren asked narrowing his eyes.

"Just showing you what your main problem is, you're too quick to anger. Emotions can be powerful tools, but you don't think, you just go. I've brought you here to help you gain full control of yourself, and by extension your titan form as well."

"How is this place supposed to do that, more so what is this place?"

"It is a legend I encountered on my travels, it was a stronghold unlike no other, one that could never be breached, not even by a thousand soldiers. So I created a sort of mental training exercise based off of it. Your job is to climb to the top, enter the Tower and kill the evil within it."

"How am I supposed to do it by myself if one thousand soldiers couldn't do it together."

"I was getting to that, the Tower has many defenses, the main one being able to manipulate an intruder's mind. You could be climbing it one moment, only to step on something that didn't exist and fall to your death. Use the form of a loved one to get you to drop your guard, before a monster kills you from behind. Only people who have complete mental control can discern from what is real, and what isn't."

"Has anyone ever scaled the tower?"

"According to legend, there was a case of one person who managed to do it."

Eren paused for a moment before questioning,"Link, just who are you?"

Link gave a small smile, "That is a story for another time, right now we need to focus on getting your titan form under control."

"How will we know when I've got it?"

"When you can complete the exercise, you will be ready. So what do you say we give it a try? You're allowed to use anything you think you will need."

"How, there's nothing here to use."

Link rolled his eyes, "We're in your mind genius, surely you can give yourself what you need. Just imagine it and it will be there."

Eren stood silent for a moment, before closing his eyes and focusing on a 3DMG, shortly later it appeared on him. "Good now get going, we don't have all night."

Eren nodded and fired his hook at the wall and zooming off. Swinging upward, he quickly fired his hook at the nearest wall, only for the wall to move further back and the hook fall short of connecting.

Eren's eyes widened and in a panic he kept trying to shoot his hooks into the walls, but none ever made contact as he continued to fall. It wasn't long before he fell into the abyss below.

Link was back at the entrance looking down at where Eren had fallen.

" _This may take awhile_ ," he thought to himself.

* * *

 _Scouting Legion HQ- much later_

Eren snapped awake with a start, he was back in the dining room, and light was starting to bleed into the room from the window.

"Well that could have gone better," he heard Link say from the other end of the table.

Eren gave him an annoyed look, "Oh really? I thought I was doing terrific, especially after that last fall."

"Yes well, at least now you know that the boulders are real."

"Very funny."

The conversation was cut short as the rest of the Levi Squad barged into the room.

"There you two are, we've been looking all over for you," Gunther shouted.

"Must not have been looking very hard, we haven't moved since last night," Link replied with a sideways glance.

Levi stormed in,"We don't have time for smartass comments, you two get up and move. The two titans we captured were killed last night."

"What," Eren exclaimed, standing up.

"Yeah and trust me, you don't want to miss Squad Leader Hange freaking out over it," Oluo said, trying to hold back laughter. His mirth was soon cut short as Petra's elbow came into contact with his stomach.

* * *

 _Later that day_

It was finally time for the trainees to choose their future, the ceremony had been delayed twice now, first due to the breach of Trost, and then the Armoghomas showing up. The Levi squad wasn't part of that ceremony though, so they remained at the castle to prepare for the upcoming expedition.

Link knew however, that there was more to this mission then just attempting to retake the fallen Wall Maria, no he knew they were also after the person who killed the two titans. If they killed the titans that were test subjects, the probably wanted to go after the person who could turn into a titan as well.

The plan seemed fairly simple to execute, but Link having many years of experience knew that plans almost never worked once applied. Though surely the Scouting Legion were aware of this, at least he hoped they were.

Next Link turned his thoughts to last night and Eren's experience at the Stone Tower. Yeah it was clear that it was going to take some time before Eren even managed to get to the entrance, but Link had full confidence that Eren would eventually make it, after all he had never met someone so determined in his life.

It was at that moment that Link felt the Triforce of Courage beginning to act up, Gannondorf was making a move. Before Link could even wonder what it was, the ground began to shake. The original Levi Squad stopped their planning and jumped to their feet.

"What's that sound," came from Eld. "Did the titans break through the wall again," came the panicked voice of Gunther. "If they did, how many are there," Oluo said, drawing his swords.

Link was listening to the vibrations of the shaking trying to determine which monster could be creating such a sound. Before he could figure it out, the shaking mysteriously stopped, almost as if it never happened.

"It stopped," a relieved sounding Petra said. "Yeah, but what caused it," Eld replied. Link stood up and narrowed his eyes, "Whatever it was, it wasn't friendly."

Levi raised his eyebrows as he noticed the same thing that Link did. "How do you know that," Oluo challenged a little pompously.

"How many of us were in this room before the shaking started?"

"Seven."

"How many are there now?"

"Seven," Oluo responded once more with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Count again."

"Please, there's me, Petra, you, Eld, Captain Levi, Gunther and Ere-," Oluo stopped short as he finally took notice of the missing titan shifter from the room. By this point four of the six people in the room all had the same thought, " _Where'd Eren go_?"

* * *

 _A few minutes earlier_

Eren was on his feet as soon as he felt the shaking. Like the others, he was worried it might be a titan, and like the others he was staring in the direction it was coming from.

Due to the fact that no one was looking at him, no one noticed the shadow that had appeared underneath him.

When Eren did notice, he looked directly up, only to see a blur of a purple colored shape drop from the ceiling and grab him by the head, dragging him up. He couldn't even scream as his world faded to black.

* * *

Link had figured out what had happened by this point, Ganondorf had used the shaking as a distraction so he could grab Eren unnoticed.

Link was not going to let the King of Evil get such an easy win, so he pulled out the Ocarina of Time. As he was about to play the Song of Time, something flashed in his head.

It looked like him, only slightly older, and he seemed to be saying something. "D-n't -s- t- S-ng -f t-e, h- c-nn-t e—ap-," came the message.

Link was confused by what he saw, but he decided to heed the warning and not use the Song of Time. Link now only had one option he would have to go, find Gannondorf, defeat him, and wrench Eren back from the clutches of-.

His thoughts were halted as Eren crashed onto the table from the ceiling, still unconscious.

* * *

 _Next Day- Scouting Legion supply depot_

Link was not pleased in the slightest, he knew that Ganondorf was up to something, he just didn't know what. He was confused by the actions of the King of Evil, why had he returned Eren so quickly, in fact why did he even want Eren in the first place?

The most concerning part though, was the warning he got telling him to not use the Song of Time, and what was the thing it was referring to?

Whatever it was, it couldn't be good, and apparently using the Song of Time would cause more problems then it would fix, so for the time being he would have to live with it.

By this point, the new recruits to the Scouting Legion arrived, prompting Eren to ask Oluo if he could go and chat with his friends.

"Just go already," came the response from the older soldier.

"Hey Mikasa, Armin!"

Mikasa turned around gasping, "Eren!"

"It feels like it's been forever!"

"Did they psychologically torture you?"

"No, nothing like that," Eren reassured.

"That's not what you were saying last night when that boulder hit you again," Link shouted not looking up.

Mikasa's face darkened as she stared at Link, "What boulder?"

"It's nothing, Link's just being an idiot," Eren replied, displaying his middle finger in Link's direction.

Link just chuckled a bit as he walked over, "Don't worry about it Mikasa, just part of something Eren and I are working on, you're welcome to join in as well should you wish. I think Eren would greatly enjoy your company in particular."

Before Eren or Mikasa could react to that comment, the others had come over to join in the conversation.

"Yo, Eren, Link."

"It's been so long!"

Link deadpanned, "It's been two days."

"Well it felt longer," Sasha chimed in.

"What everyone's here? But if you're all here, then…Doesn't that mean you all joined the Scouting Legion?"

"Why else would we be here," Connie smirked.

"So then, the only ones who joined the Military Police were Jean, Annie, and Marco?"

Jean walked up from behind Eren and Link. Link noticed him first and had genuine surprise on his face. "Man, it seems all it took was a titan invasion for you to grow a pair."

Jean shot the Hero a glare before turning back to Eren, "Marco's dead."

"What did you say? Did you say Marco's dead?"

"Not everyone goes out in a blaze of glory. I don't even know how it happened. He died alone, without anyone seeing or knowing."

 _"So,"_ Link thought _, "a friend died, and now he tries to make a difference. There may be hope for him yet."_

* * *

 _Scouting Legion supply depot indoors_

The group had been discussing the upcoming mission, and Eren was still in disbelief about who was going.

"Yes, we'll all be participating in the mission too," Mikasa answered.

Jean then stepped forward, "Hey Eren, I heard that when you transformed into a titan, you tried to kill Mikasa. Mind explaining yourself."

Mikasa stepped in, "That's wrong Eren was trying to swat a fly—."

"Provided that the fly is you, that explanation is correct," Link said cutting her off.

Eren spoke up, "It's true, when I transformed I tried to kill her. I however have no recollection of doing so."

"Jean, I know that you have doubts right now, but the problem has been identified and a solution is currently happening. Trust me I know what concern's you have, you don't need to have them," Link tried to assure.

Jean gave Link a long stare, before sighing, "I certainly hope you're right, for if not, then our blood is on your hands."

With that he turned and walked away without another word.

Link watched his diminishing figure before turning to Eren, "Eren it's time to continue your training, if you want you can bring Mikasa with you. This training could help her as well."

Eren nodded and motioned for Mikasa to follow him, Mikasa had a confused look on her face but followed him as she always did.

"Armin, don't feel left out about this, I would invite you, but quite frankly you don't need this training right now," Link called out before he disappeared from sight.

* * *

 _Ganondorf's Castle_

Ganondorf had an evil smile on his face as his latest creation finished another round of training. The Hero would stand no chance against this one, not with the new powers he had given it. That boy from the other world would prove very useful to him indeed, especially if he had any other powers yet to discover that could be copied.

"Shall I go and eliminate him now master," came the demonic voice of the monster.

"Not yet, this is the Hero of Time we are talking about, if were not thorough with our planning, we won't be able to put him in a position that he can't just reverse time to get out of. No, I've got something better in mind for him."

"Understood master."

They were both so caught up in their planning, that neither of them noticed the figure dressed in blue sneak into the portal room, and dive in.

* * *

 _Scouting Legion HQ Dining Room_

Mikasa looked at the darkness that lay before her, it was like impossible to see far into.

Link stood beside her, "It's clear from the battle in Trost that you rely too much on Eren mentally, so I've set up this mental training course to help you break that reliance. Where as Eren requires control over his mind, you need to be less attached to him. If something bad happens to him, you will make rash decisions that could get yourself killed, this course will help you face your fears, as it will use them all against you. So tell me, are you ready to enter into the Shadow Temple?"

* * *

 ** _AN: Well that one was interesting to write, the first part was inspired obviously by the Stone Tower temple theme, but I couldn't find one for the rest of it. I apologize if you were hoping too see more of the Stone Tower, but at this point in the story it isn't really necessary. To answer another question about the songs that inspire chapters, the first one was inspired by "I May Fall" from RWBY. As for the others, chapter two I can't remember, the Trost District ones were inspired by, Calling to the Storm by DJthesdotcom, and various Hyrule Warriors songs._**


	8. Shadows and Stone Towers

**_AN: Had quite a bit of free time latley, so I decided to pump another chapter out. Not much to say this time, other than this chapter will mainly be about Mikasa. So with nothing more to say let's head back into the story._**

* * *

 _Shadow Temple_

Mikasa slowly walked through the darkness, until she came to the end of the corridor. Thankfully by this point, it had lightened up enough that she could see around her.

Turning right, she stopped herself from walking right off the ledge where the path suddenly stopped. " _Remember this is in your head, you can give yourself what you need._ " Link's voice rang through her head.

Focusing, she gave herself a 3DMG and with it, she shot across the gap to the other side. Once across, she was confused to see there was no way forward, and that there was a wall blocking any further passage.

She stepped forward to push the wall, to see if it could be moved aside, and proceeded to fall on her face as she walked right through it. Standing back up, she heard a voice echo through the room, "Make my beak face the skull of truth. The alternative is descent into the deep darkness."

Looking to where the voice echoed from, she saw a statue of what looked like a bird, surrounded by a circle of metal rods with skulls as toppers. Feeling something appear in her hand, she turned her head to see what it was. She was holding a small purple object that was shaped like an eye with a handle.

She heard Link's voice in her head, "This will allow you to see through things that aren't real, so it can find the skull of truth. However since this item is also an easy way to see through the illusions the dungeon will create to trick you, I will only allow its use when it is absolutely necessary."

Raising the looking glass to her eye, she was able to see the skull directly behind the statue was the real one. Walking up to the statue, she began to push on the square object that was protruding from the it. Slowly it began to move, until she managed to get the beak facing toward the correct skull.

Once the statue faced the correct direction, fire sprang out of all the skulls as if they were torches, and from across the room she heard the sound of a gate being raised. Walking in front of the bird statue, she once more came across as chasm, but at the other edge of this one there was a stone face sticking out of the wall.

She went to raise the looking glass once more, only to discover that it wasn't there and had completely vanished from the room. Seeing no other option, she prepared herself to swing across the chasm when a loud, "Help me!" broke across the room.

Mikasa's eyes widened, she knew that voice, it was Eren's. Reminding herself that this was all in her head, Mikasa once more prepared to jump across the chasm only for the voice to cry out again, "Help me!" It sounded so real, Mikasa was beginning to want to go after it.

"Mikasa, please, help!" Eren's voice cried out again, sounding more desperate this time.

That cinched Mikasa's decision, turning around she ran to the back wall of the room, looking for any other hidden paths. Feeling along the wall, she managed to find another fake one that led down a different corridor.

Wasting no time, she sprinted along until she came to a stone wall with a face carved into it. Not even stopping to listen to its message she ran right through it, and came into a square room with a square block in the middle. Each section of the walls all had faces on them, some with glowing eyes, but Mikasa paid them no attention as she ran through following Eren's voice.

She passed through another set of fake walls and came into another room that was set up very similarly to the one before. Running to one of the back corners she found another fake wall where the voice was coming from. Mikasa dashed through the door, and straight into the room on the other side.

As she entered her face instantly scrunched up at the foul smell of decay in the room, it was prevalent throughout the temple, but here it was most noticable. When she took one step into the room it became clear why as a loud _*SNAP*_ came from her step.

Looking down she saw she had just stepped on what used to be someone's spine, and that the entire floor was covered in bones. While she was staring at the remains a loud * _THUMP_ * sounded behind her. Turning around she saw that the door she came in was now covered in thick metal bars preventing any escape.

A deep voice boomed through the tiny room, "My what have we here? Another human for me to dine on?"

Mikasa turned away from the door to see what had spoken, only to see a circle of long white hands, with long red fingernails on each one. Stepping forward she drew her swords, prepared to attack anything that came at her.

As she drew closer to the one of the hands, it lunged at her with incredible speed. Surprised, Mikasa jumped back, but the hand was too quick. It grabbed her throat with great force, keeping her in place.

As Mikasa was struggling to break free of the hand's grasp, she heard the sound of something emerging from the ground. Turning her head, her eyes grew wide as she saw it, a giant white creature with red accents was making its way towards her. It had a long neck and pointing its face upward, and its arms were short, thin, and had no hands on the ends.

Hastening her efforts to break free, she managed to tear herself away from the hand. Looking she saw that she had dropped her weapons when she was grabbed, and it was now closer to the approaching creature than her.

With no other option in her mind, she dove at her swords and quickly grabbed them off the ground. Looking up, she came face to face with the creature. It had black empty spots in place of its eyes, a long pointy nose, and a large gaping mouth.

Seeing that the creature was about to take a large bite out of her, Mikasa swung wildly in a panicked attempt to get the monster away from her. One of her attacks managed to hit it across the face, and it let out a cry of pain as it backed away.

Standing up she steadied herself for another attack, only to stop as she saw the creature turn to her once more.

"You little brat, I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart alive!"

With that, the creature burrowed under the ground, with the hands retreating down as well. Mikasa kept her guard up as she slowly walked around the room, waiting for the creature to show itself once more.

As she was creeping across the room, she failed to notice the hand that was sticking out of the ground, until it grabbed her leg and caused her to trip. Once she fell to the ground, more hands sprung up and grabbed each one of her limbs, until she was trapped within their grasp.

She heard the creature surface once more, and she desperately tried to break free of the hands that were holding her down. The creature was now right in front of her, and as she looked up, she saw its giant mouth heading right for her head.

The second before it could make contact with her, she moved her head to the side, causing the creature to take a bite of her left shoulder instead.

Mikasa yelled out in pain, as the monster laughed, "My, don't you taste delicious. I might have to eat you slowly just to savor this taste."

However, in allowing the monster to take a bite of her, she had managed to free her right arm. When the monster dove in to get another taste, she swung with her right arm, slashing it across the face once more. The monster howled in agony, and the arms holding her backed away, allowing her to get back on her feet.

It turned back to her, and with a face of rage, charged right at her. Mikasa stood her ground and waited for the moment she would need to counterattack. As the creature continued its charge, Mikasa turned around and swung at the hand that had been rising from the ground behind her, knowing that the creature would try something.

Unfortunately, while she did so the monster reached her and took a bite out of her leg. Ignoring the pain Mikasa whirled around and delivered another strike to the monster's face.

The monster let out one last hideous sound, before collapsing on the ground, and slowly disappearing.

Panting heavily, Mikasa sheathed her swords and fell to the ground. Looking at her shoulder, she saw that a good chunk of skin was missing, and that there was even bone visible.

Sitting up a little she turned her attention to her leg. The monster hadn't gone so deep there, but her right leg was still mangled pretty badly at the bottom, and she swore she could feel the bone was shattered.

At that moment a loud sound echoed through the room, and a chest started appearing at the back wall. As soon as it materialized, the bars on the door raised allowing her to leave once more.

Reaching down, she picked up a large leg bone, and using it as support managed to raise herself to her feet. Now with the bone as a crutch she managed to get over to the chest and open it up.

Inside she found a glass jar with a pink orb inside, and a note which read:

Mikasa,

If you're reading this, then you followed the voice and faced the Dead Hand. You're probably exhausted after that fight, and more than likely have a few serious injuries as well. Open the jar, and the fairy inside will repair any damage that the Dead Hand did to you.

-From Link

Opening the bottle, the fairy flew out, and proceeded to fly around Mikasa. Seconds later, the pain from her leg and shoulder disappeared and she felt the shattered bone reform, and the missing flesh regrow.

As she was leaving Mikasa's head was reeling, she had gone with the intention of saving Eren, and it had almost gotten her killed. Yet what had surprised her the most was the fact that she had felt fear.

Ever since her parents died, the only thing that she was afraid of was losing Eren. When facing that monster however, she had felt genuine fear that she would perish.

Now slightly shaken, Mikasa began to retrace her steps back through the rooms she had so carelessly ran through.

* * *

 _Stone Tower Temple_

Eren was back at the start as he had fallen once again. He was beginning to get the hang of climbing the tower, and he could even see through some of the illusions now.

Sadly the first time he did, he was so pleased with himself that he fell for another one a few seconds later. Eren was determined however, and he wasn't going to stop trying anytime soon.

Once more he jumped of the ledge and began to swing upward, going slower than usual. As he got to the next level, he dove to the side to avoid an oncoming boulder, before firing another hook to continue his ascent.

While he soared through the air, he swung his swords to catch any Fire Keese that might come near him. A few swings later he landed on a square platform with three buttons on it.

Looking up, he saw that he had reached the top, and was now level with the entrance to the Temple. With a sigh of relief, he took a step forward, only to place his foot on thin air and proceed to fall.

Not wanting to start over again, Eren fired his hook at the nearest wall, and swung towards it. However he didn't manage to stop himself in time, and he collided face first into the wall.

Eren then slowly fell off the wall, and onto a small piece of land directly below.

Rolling onto his back, Eren decided he was going to just lay there for a little while and catch his breath.

* * *

 _Shadow Temple_

Mikasa was now back in the first room that she entered. Stepping back to the chasm, she used her 3DMG to cross, and proceeded down the path that was before her.

The path itself wasn't very long and at the end of it, there was a circular room with a weird statue in the middle. The circular room had three arches filled with dirt and bones, and the statue's head seemed to be spinning.

When Mikasa stepped closer to the statue, it caught sight of her with its one eye, and proceeded to fire a blue laser at her. Seeing the laser, Mikasa sprinted around the statue, trying to find an opening.

She eventually found one in the center at arch, as there was once more an illusion making it seem like there was a wall in the way. She couldn't go any further though, because the door was locked and she didn't have a key.

Feeling something appear on her belt, she looked down and saw a small brown bag, made of an unknown material. Opening it up, she found twenty bombs inside, with a small note that simply said: "Have fun."

Getting an idea, she took one of the bombs and threw it at the statue. The bomb exploded, and the statue froze, closing its eye. Now that it was stunned, she walked to the other arches and placed a bomb in front of each of them. Stepping back she was rewarded with both archways being cleared, and the statue being completely destroyed.

At the end of both archways, there was a door. Trying the right door first Mikasa was greeted with the sight of a giant spinning twin reaper statue, both holding gigantic, sharp scythes.

A voice called out, "Collect the silver gems to open the way." Taking her eyes off the death machine, she saw that there were several silver gemstones scattered around the room, some in the way of the giant scythes.

With no other option she began swinging around the room, collecting any gem in her way. As soon as she collected the last one, she dropped to the floor to avoid the instant death behind her, and a gate raised at the edge of the room.

Crawling along, she managed to get to the now open indent in the wall and the chest that resided within. Opening it up, she found a small silver key which she assumed opened the locked door she encountered earlier.

Carefully departing the room, Mikasa then went to check the other room, to make sure there was nothing useful in there. Entering she saw two slouched figures covered in white wrappings. The two figures turned towards her, and Mikasa's blood ran cold as she heard them speak to each other.

"Isn't that the girl who we kidnapped all those years ago?"

"Yeah, the one who we were going to get rich off selling to the underground market."

"Before that stupid brat came in and messed up our plans that is."

"He's the one that left us like this, and then she killed our friend."

"What do you say we finally get our revenge after all these years?"

The two corpses began to shamble towards her, Mikasa prepared herself to slaughter them, only to find that she had no weapons. Looking down at her hands, she saw that they were much smaller. Grabbing her hair, she found that it was much longer than usual, and as she looked down she was no longer wearing her military uniform, but the gown she had worn on that fateful day. Reaching for her neck, she found that she no longer had her scarf, and that she was now herself back when she was only nine years old.

Turning she tried to run, only for her to be stopped in her tracks by a loud shriek, which paralyzed her in fear. She looked behind her to see that the mummies were almost within arm distance of her.

Managing to get her strength back, she ran out of the room, not looking behind as she ran to the locked door. From behind her, she heard the two mummies break through the door and begin to give chase.

Turning the key in the lock, she dashed through the door and threw her weight against it. Panting heavily, she found that she was once again her normal self, and that the sounds from behind the door had stopped.

Mikasa was now more than a little frightened, she was downright terrified. Normally she could keep her emotions in check, but with her near death at the hands of the Dead Hand, and the close call she had just then with the people who ruined her life, she was beginning to crack.

Taking a deep breath she began to walk forward through the hallway. As she was walking she heard a shimmying sound from above, looking up she saw a giant spider descending fast.

Mikasa quickly dove forwards, avoiding being hit by the spider whose abdomen looked like a skull. Picking herself up, she decided it would be best if she were to use the 3DMG to speed through the corridor to avoid anymore arachnids.

After two or three uses, she found a sudden drop in the floor, and two guillotines that manned themselves blocking the way. Jumping down to the new floor height, she saw a shadow hovering above the middle of the space in between the guillotines.

Knowing the it would be one of those spiders, she waited for the right moment to dash under the first guillotine. Upon doing so, she proceeded to hug the wall until she came to the next one, where she once more made it through.

Exiting the hallway, she came into a large open room that had a narrow road ,and very steep cliffs. After the narrow road there were three more guillotines, before a platform which could be used to access a different platform that was being raised up and down.

Before she could even move that far into the room however, Mikasa saw Eren ,not to far up, get hit by something and fall off into the abyss.

Without hesitation, Mikasa jumped in right after him, hoping she could save him. She continued to fall, until she eventually landed in an area covered in bones.

"Mikasa?" She hear a familiar voice call out.

Looking up she saw two figures looking back at her, one male and one female. Mikasa couldn't believe her eyes, it was her parents. Looking closely, she saw that Eren was with them, almost as if he had been talking with them.

As Mikasa's mother turned to face her, Mikasa backed away in horror. Half of her mother's face was gone, allowing her skull to be on full display, and there were several bits of missing flesh and torn clothes all over her.

Her father wasn't any better, as one of his arms was all skeleton, an eye was missing, and half his torso was gone.

"We're so happy you're here!" her father exclaimed as he started moving towards her.

"Yeah Mikasa, now we can be together forever, isn't that what you wanted? After all, you sacrificed so many lives to make it happen." Eren said moving forward. Eren himself was missing an arm and a leg, and the top right half of his head was gone.

"Now we can stay together as a family!" Mikasa's mother sang, in an ominous tone.

Scrambling to her feet Mikasa ran back, trying to find where she fell in. As she ran, hands came from the floor, walls, and ceiling trying to grab her.

Along with the hands came voices and cries of, "Mikasa, why'd you abandon us to die?"

"You were supposed to be the best, why'd you throw your life away."

"How come Eren is more important that all of us?"

"Where were you?"

"Maybe you'd like to feel how it is to be eaten alive!"

Eventually one of the hands grabbed her by the hair, and stalled her long enough for the others to grab on as well. Once she was stuck in place the bodies of the arms started crawling out of the walls, and slowly began to envelop Mikasa.

She felt their bites as they chewed away at her skin. Her cries of terror were drowned out as she was slowly and painfully devoured, her world fading to black.

Mikasa awoke to find herself back at the entrance of the temple. Slowly all that had just conspired caught up with her, and she curled herself into a ball, and began to cry uncontrollably.

* * *

 _Scouting Legion HQ-Dining Room_

Link sat at the table chipping away at a fragment from a broken blade, trying to shape it into something. Armin was sitting with him, curious as to what his friends were doing so late at night.

Link was more than happy to explain to Armin, especially with the weird postures that his friends had adopted. Both Eren and Mikasa were sitting upright, with eyes closed, and the only indication that they were still alive being the expressions that would occur on their faces.

"Hey Link," Armin began, "what are you doing?"

Link looked up from his chiseling, "I'm trying to fashion these broken fragments into arrowheads, so if need be I can use them against the titans."

"What good would arrows do against a titan?"

"I don't know yet, though I find it better to be over prepared than under prepared."

"I guess that's true, hey how are they doing in there?"

"No clue, let me check."

Standing up Link walked between Mikasa and Eren and placed his hand on their shoulders. Looking in to their heads, he saw Mikasa curled on the ground at the entrance to the Shadow Temple, while Eren was lying on his back, arms and legs splayed out staring up at the sky halfway up the Stone Tower Temple.

Stepping back he walked around and sat back down. Armin looked up at him, "Well, how are they doing so far?"

Link looked Armin directly in the eyes, "Better than I expected."

* * *

 _ **AN: I was originally going to have Link and Armin playing Go Fish but I felt like that would take away from the mood of the chapter overall. As always advice and opinions appreciated, and I will see you guys next time.**_


	9. The beginning of the End

_**AN: So here we are again, another chapter of Hero's Fall. Now there was a suggestion for a mental training exercise using the Anju and Kafei side quest in conjunction with the Romani Ranch and saving the Zora eggs. They thought this would be a good idea to show that not everyone can be saved, especially when doing things alone. There are two problems with this, first they weren't very specific on who should go through this as they just used he. I am assuming that means Eren but I'm not sure, secondly it is possible to do all of those sidequests in the same three day cycle, at least it is in the N64 version, I haven't played the 3ds version of Majora's Mask yet. Sorry to disappoint, but I won't be doing that.**_

* * *

 _Scouting Legion HQ_

It was one week before the Scouting Legion was set to go outside the walls. Link was currently tearing a practice dummy to shreds with his Gilded Sword.

He was more worried about his inevitable confrontation with Ganondorf, than about going out into Titan territory. He remembered just how outmatched he was in his last fight with the Evil King, he did not want to have a repeat of that failure.

When the dummy was no more than small pieces of wood scattered on the ground, Link let out a sigh of frustration. He was no idiot, he knew that just smacking a wooden dummy wouldn't improve one's skill that much, yet it was his only option.

Playing the Song of Healing, he watched as the dummy repaired itself once more, and started his routine again.

While swinging, his thoughts turned to Eren and Mikasa. The two were starting to make some progress on their training, but they still weren't there yet.

Eren was now able to make it into the Stone Tower, but couldn't get past the mirror room yet. Mikasa had made less progress, only making it to the room with the giant spike crushers.

Link then delivered another strike to the dummy, only to have it fall apart again. Growling in frustration, Link sheathed his sword and began to walk away.

" _Isn't there any other way for me to get some training in, that isn't completely useless_ ," he thought to himself. Not ten seconds later, he caught a glimpse of a Dinalfos heading deep into the forest.

Link felt a smirk appear on his face, " _That'll do just fine._ " Checking to make sure no one was around, Link took off into the forest.

* * *

Following the Dinalfos, he managed to discover that there was a whole group of the monsters hiding out in the forest. Observing them, he was shocked to see a hooded figure in the midst of the reptilian monsters.

The most alarming fact was that the monsters didn't even seem to be aware of the person standing right by them, they were just standing around. Putting his confusion aside, Link drew his sword and prepared to jump into battle.

Using the Jump Strike skill, he managed to deal heavy damage to most of the Dinalfos. Not giving them any time to recover, he quickly did the Great Spin Attack, amplifying it with his magic.

By this point only two Dinalfos remained, one fell shortly after to the Mortal Draw, and the other got its head sliced in two by the Helm Splitter.

Sheathing his blade, Link began to hear clapping. Turning his head, he saw that the hooded figure was giving him a small amount of applause.

"Excellent job there, Hero," the figure began with a feminine voice,"It seems you haven't lost your touch."

"Who are you, and how do you know who I am?" Link retorted pointing his sword in the figure's direction.

"Someone you really don't want to go against, I would recommend that you lower your sword."

"I think I'll keep it where it is, thank you very much."

The figure sighed, "Very well then."

The figure raised her hand, and from it released a green blast of light. Link didn't even have time to react before the light hit him, and knocked him into one of the many trees in the forest.

Attempting to get on his feet, Link felt extremely drained.

"How, how is that possible?" Link asked, barely maintaining consciousness.

The figure walked over to him, "Don't worry, you're strength will return soon. As for your question, I cannot answer that. I am only here to give you something."

"What's that?" Link spat out.

"A warning," The figure placed a hand on Link's head, and he saw his world go black.

* * *

" _Don't cross me, you're highness."_

 _"Is that all you have? I'm dissapointed."_

 _"Are you really going to give in that easy?"_

 _"What have you done?! You idiot!"_

 _"If I learned anything from our last fight, it was-"_

 _"Don't worry, I'll find a way to prevent it, I promise."_

 _"Hyrule has no need for you anymore."_

 _"Link stop!"_

 _"Yes but who's the monster?"_

 _"It's time you learned who you really are."_

 _"Oh, I've been waiting for this moment for eons!"_

 _"So the Hero is still around."_

 _"What, what's happening?"_

 _"Why would I give you such a huge advantage for no reason?"_

 _"It's been too long, Master."_

 _"You've just made the biggest mistake in your entire existence."_

 _"This is my stop! Goodbye and good riddance!"_

 _"So this is how it ends huh?"_

* * *

Link awoke with his head ringing. " _What was that dream just now? Wait, where am I?_ "

A voice called out, "Hey he's waking up!" Looking around in his room, with Eren, Mikasa, and Armin around his bed.

"Thank god, you're awake," Armin sighed in relief.

Eren looked over to him, "We were beginning to think we'd have to go without you."

"What do you mean?" Link asked, his head still hurting.

The three exchanged glances, before Armin spoke up, "Link, you've been out cold for almost a week. The expedition is tomorrow."

Mikasa spoke up for the first time, "Mind telling us what happened to you?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Link lied.

The three shared another look before Armin put something on his bed, it was the Gilded Sword.

"We found this with you, its made like no other blade anywhere. This on top of your unbelievable combat prowess, strange ability to go in other people's heads, and your knowledge of monsters we've never seen before has got us wondering. Link, please tell us, who are you?" The truth this time."

Link looked down at the floor, head spinning. Closing his eyes, he let out a sigh, "Fine, I'll tell you, but only once we come back from the expedition. Furthermore, I'm only telling you three."

All three adopted the same look of confusion as Link got himself out of bed and begun to put his uniform on.

Mikasa decided to speak up, "Why only us three?"

Looking at them as he finished putting his jacket on, Link gave them a half-smile, "Let's just say, that you three remind me of another trio that I know of."

With that, Link exited the room, leaving the Shiganshia trio more confused than ever before.

* * *

 _Karanes District- The Next Day_

It was finally time for the 57th expedition outside of the walls, the Scouting Legion was lined up in front of the gate ready to depart. As soon as the gate was open and the order given, the scouts raced out of the district at top speed.

Despite going into Titan territory, Link was not thinking about the giant beasts of the mission at all. No his thoughts were on that strange woman he met in the forest, and how she pushed him aside like it was nothing.

Even more alarming was she knew who he was, so that meant she was from Hyrule.

" _If she is from Hyrule, is she friend or foe? Why wasn't she fighting in the war? If she has that kind of power, than she could have easily won it for either side._ " Link's head was full of questions like this, yet he had no answers.

While the Levi squad was riding through the fields of Wall Maria, they saw the smoke signal that informed them there was trouble on the right flank.

Levi turned his head to his squad members, "Everyone, change your courses. We're heading to the Forest of Giant Trees."

Link refocused his thoughts, "Can't worry about her right now, this world needs all the help it can get."

Link turned his head to where the smoke signals where dissipating in the distance, " _Changing course so suddenly, something big must be happening._ "

Narrowing his eyes, he looked straight ahead, " _Hopefully it's a monster, I need something to lash out on._ "

He was too focused on the cause of the destruction, that he didn't notice the Triforce of Courage beginning to glow uncontrollably.

* * *

 _Trost District_

Ganondorf stepped out of the portal and into his new surroundings. He was followed shortly after by his prized creation. "Master, shall I go after him now?" The creature asked impatiently.

"No, I need you for the first phase of our plan," Ganondorf began, "I've observed this world for a time, and I've noticed a giant divide between the people here, and the elites behind the other wall. I've also noticed one of the military leader's disdain for our green hooded friend."

"You're not suggesting that we recruit him?" The monster said with clear disgust in his voice.

"Nothing of the sort, I was suggesting that we give him a damn good reason for it." With that, Ganondorf turned around and began heading for the inner wall.

Off to the side, one of the soldiers looked at what he was drinking before dumping the bottle and walking away.

* * *

 _Forest of Giant Trees_

The Levi Squad was currently pushing their horses as fast as they could, the Female Titan had shown up and was giving chase.

Despite wanting nothing more than to engage it, Link decided to put faith in the Scouting Legion, and hope that they could do something about this. He didn't want to fight all their battles for them.

"Everyone cover your ears," he heard Levi call out. A second later, the Captain pulled out his flare gun and fired off a round.

" _Ok screw it I'm killing her_ ," Link thought jumping off his horse.

Eren turned his head, "Link, what are you doing?!"

Levi, hearing the titan-shifter yell, also turned back to get a look. "Everyone, turn around and give assistance," Levi shouted out.

Link was currently standing where he had jumped off, waiting for his prey. Looking up, he saw the pink foot of the Female Titan looming over him.

A moment later, it drops down on him, and a loud ** _*BOOM*_** echoes through the forest.

* * *

 _ **AN: Well that's chapter nine, next time we have the Levi Squad vs the Female Titan. Also just in case you didn't see the update chapter, if you want more Hero's Fall I will be posting chapters that don't fit with the story in another one simply titled Hero's Fall Extras. If you want to put something of your own into this story, message me with the idea and I'll put it in there, that way if people can have some input to the story, but if someone else doesn't really like the idea it won't turn them off the story. Until next time!**_


	10. The Female Titan

**_AN: Well Attack on Titan season 2 is over, now to wait for season 3. Overall I felt it was good, just a little short and the small amount of Manga it used made me think it could have easily been made much sooner. That's beside the point though, I decided I would crank out another chapter because why not?_**

* * *

 _Forest of Giant Trees_

Silence prevailed through the forest, no one dared move. The members of the Levi Squad, were frozen in place, Link had just been stepped on by the Female Titan.

Although they had only known the soldier for a short time, none of them wished death upon him. Eren was the most shaken however, he was beginning to see Link as a friend, and now he was gone.

The Female Titan had a smug look on her face as she looked down at the now motionless Scouts, ready to continue her slaughter. Eren's shock quickly turned to anger, and he raised his hand to his mouth.

The Female Titan noticed this and dove at Eren, attempting to grab him wth her mouth.

Before Eren could bite down, the Female Titan was stopped right in front of him, and then promptly swung into a tree.

While Eren was attempting to see what had stopped the Female Titan, he was grabbed by Gunther.

"Get Eren out of here," Levi began, "It's obvious she's after him."

"What's the plan of attack sir?" Petra asked, drawing her swords.

"There isn't one, you, Eld, and Oluo are going with Gunther to keep Eren safe," Levi responded mounting his horse.

Oluo looked dumbfounded, "But what about the Female Titan, she's getting back up right now!"

"Leave her to me," a new voice called out, making the Levi Squad freeze. Link was standing in the same spot, showing no sign of injury or fatigue whatsoever.

"I'll keep her busy, you just get Eren to safety."

Oluo was wide eyed, "How are you still alive?!"

" _There's more to him than I thought, this may be a good opportunity to see what he's truly capable of,_ " Levi thought. "It's time to go, Oluo stop gawking and get a move on."

"But sir, are we really going to just abandon him here?"

"He's made his decision, we should respect that. Go and protect Eren, I'll meet up with you once I report to commander Erwin."

* * *

Link watched as Levi rode off, while the other members zipped through trees with their 3DMG. " _Good_ ," he thought, " _Now I won't have to hold back on her._ "

Link began walking towards the rising figure of the Female Titan, drawing his Gilded Sword while he moved.

The Female Titan was up by this point, and, enraged at losing her prey, brought her hand down in an attempt to crush the Hero. Before she could make contact, Link sliced the top half of her hand clean off.

As the Female Titan drew her hand back in pain, Link sunk his sword into the remaining bottom half of the hand, going up with it. Flipping himself up on top of her arm, Link began to run up the limb.

When the Female Titan began to try and shake him off, he fired his 3DMG hooks right on her face speeding towards it.

The Female Titan brought her other hand to intercept him, and Link prepared himself to go through this one as well. Drawing his 3DMG blades he attacked the hand, only to have his blades shatter against the palm.

Immediately after, the Female Titans fingers curled around the Hero. She had hardened her skin, preventing Link from going through her hand and allowing her to trap him.

Caught in her hand, Link began to push against the force that was attempting to crush him. Straining as hard as he could, he managed to pry the fingers apart enough to fall to the ground.

Landing with a roll, he looked back with a grin, " _So she can harden her skin huh? That could be annoying._ " The Female Titan brought her hand down again, once more trying to crush Link.

Link backflipped away, catching one of her fingers as he did so. Landing the ground, he began to spin with the Female Titan in tow.

Once he had picked up enough speed he released, sending the Female Titan crashing into another tree.

" _Man, the Golden Gauntlets are really proving their worth today_ ," Link thought to himself as he rushed to the downed titan.

Jumping up he pulled out the Megaton Hammer, and, as he predicted, the Female Titan's nape hardened to protect the shifter inside.

"Let's see how tough your skin really is," Link then swung the Megaton Hammer directly down, causing the hardened skin to crack. Sensing that she was in danger, the Female Titan begun screaming wildly.

Outside the forest, the titans that were trying to get the Scouts at the start begun running in. Link continued to strike the nape with the Megaton Hammer, but before he could get it to shatter, he had to jump out of the way of a 13 meter titan's mouth.

Shortly after many more titans arrived, and begun to devour the Female Titan. Retreating to the branch of a tree, Link was able to make out a hooded figure escaping from the half eaten corpse of the Female Titan.

" _On no you don't_ ," Link thought as he gave chase to the titan shifter.

* * *

"And that's why the Female Titan isn't here right now," Levi finished.

Erwin was silent for a moment, "You're sure this new recruit can handle something like this on his own?"

"There was only one way to find out, besides he made the decision that he thought was right. So I made the decision that I thought was right, nothing more nothing less."

"I see." A loud scream echoed through the forest, stopping the two's conversation.

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't know, but I don't think it was good," Erwin replied looking down.

"What makes you say," Levi stopped speaking as soon as he saw the horde of Titans that were coming in their direction.

"What are the people outside doing? They were supposed to keep those things out of here," Levi growled drawing his swords.

"Perhaps it was that scream that drew them here," Erwin responded, following suit.

"Either way it doesn't change the fact that we're surrounded by these ugly bastards. Looks like we're fighting our way out."

Both leaders were to busy paying attention to the Titans to notice the two people zipping past behind them.

* * *

The Levi Squad were almost out of the forest, they could see the light at the end. Hearing the sound of another 3DMG, Gunther turned his head and saw another person keeping pace with them.

"Captain Levi, is that you?" The figure responded by changing course, and slashing the unsuspecting soldier with their blades, killing him instantly. The other members looked back in shock, Gunther was just killed.

"Could that be the Female Titan's human form?" Eld asked. He soon got his answer as there was a bright flash, and the Female Titan reappeared right behind them.

This enraged Eren even further, after finding out from Oluo that Link was still alive and fighting the Female Titan he had begun to relax a little bit. Now though, the Female Titan was here making Eren believe that she had succeeded in killing Link, and had proceeded to do the same to Gunther.

He could no longer contain his anger, turning around to face the Female Titan, he shot towards it biting his thumb and transforming into the Rogue Titan once more. As he was coming down to the ground, he let out a loud roar that could be heard through he forest.

Mikasa was at the entrance to the forest when she heard it. Her eyes widened and all she said was, "Eren," before taking off.

Levi had just dispatched another Titan when the sound reached him. Levi turned to the direction it came from, "Don't tell me." He killed one last Titan and begun racing to the origin of the noise.

* * *

Link was sitting on a tree branch watching the battle unfold. Eren was throwing a barrage of punches, all were easily avoided by the Female Titan. Link sighed, "Just as I suspected, he's too angry to fight effectively."

Looking closely he was able to notice the surviving members of the Levi Squad looked ready to join in. As they were closing in on the target, Link shot forward and intercepted them.

"Probably best just to sit this one out," he warned, "and yes I am still alive, so stop looking like you've seen a ghost."

The four landed on another tree branch and watched as the two Titans continued to fight.

* * *

Eren's rage was growing every second, he couldn't even hit his opponent. Every attack he threw she just dodged before countering him. Eren snarled, _"There's got to be some way to hit her_."

Suddenly a memory flew into his head. It was when he and Reiner attempted to get Link to do hand to hand, which ended with him being flown several feet in the air.

Taking a deep breath Eren calmed himself slightly, before relaxing his stance and turning around and slowly walking away. The Female Titan was shocked and angry by being downright ignored.

Not wanting to waste an opportunity, she threw a punch directly at the back of Eren's head. She didn't notice that Eren was looking back slightly, so when the punch was about a foot away he grabbed her arm.

Spinning around and releasing her arm, Eren threw her into yet another tree. Rushing over to her, he let out another roar before throwing another punch, only to have the Female Titan dive away at the last second.

Eren grabbed the Female Titans leg, attempting to swing her over his head, only to have her kick him in the face.

The Female Titan was still on the ground, anger flaring, Eren charged directly at her.

The Female Titan once more jumped to the side, getting back on her feet while Eren crashed into a tree.

Deciding that she needed to end this quickly, the Female Titan took a very familiar stance, which caused Eren to pause in disbelief.

Finishing the technique the Female Titan proceeded to harden her skin, allowing her to kick the top half of the Rogue Titan's head, and arm off.

Link was impressed by the use of the Mortal Draw by Eren, though was disappointed in the hesitation causing the loss.

Seeing that Eren was about to be captured by the Female Titan, Link decided that now was a good as time as any.

Turning to the remaining members of the Levi Squad, he threw a Deku Nut, blinding them for a moment, before switching back to his green tunic. Falling off the branch, he put on a grey mask.

* * *

The Female Titan heard a scream behind her, but she paid it no mind. It was probably just one of the Scouts that had been caught by a Titan and was being devoured.

No she was too focused on grabbing Eren. Tearing off the nape, she was about to grab him with her mouth, when she felt something tap on her shoulder.

Surprised, she turned around, only for a devastating punch to send her several feet in the air. Getting to her feet, she got a good look at what she was up against.

Standing in front of Eren was a giant figure clad in green, with a grey mask covering his face. On his back was a longsword that was currently sheathed, and a green hat sat upon his head.

Growling, she charged at him, she would not come so close only to fail now.

* * *

Link stood his ground as the Female Titan rushed him. Reaching out, he grabbed her head before pivoting, and smashing it into the forest floor.

Raising her head, he once more slammed it down, again, again, and again. The Female Titan reached up, and grabbed his tunic, pulling him down with her.

Quickly rising to her feet, the Female Titan threw a punch directly at Link's head, hardening her skin while she did so.

Link's hand shot up and caught the punch, much to the aggressor's surprise, and rose to his feet as well. The Female Titan threw another punch with her other hand, which was also caught by Link.

Now in a power struggle the Female Titan attempted a leg sweep, causing the Hero to back away a bit. Pressing her attack, she attempted to do her spin kick on him, only to be kicked in the torso by a powerful push kick.

The Female Titan staggered back, before falling to the ground on her back. Link rushed forward to try and smash her head in, but she was expecting that. Wrapping her legs around his head, she flipped him onto the ground.

Getting on her knees, she dove attempting to pin him on the ground. Link quickly rolled over, and kicked directly upwards, catching her in the stomach and sending her over him.

Standing back up, Link turned to face his opponent, who was now back on her feet as well. The Female Titan let out a roar and once more charge at Link, arms raised to protect her head.

Link just slid his right foot back, and waited. Once she was close enough, Link performed the Mortal Draw, swinging the enlarged Biggorn Sword.

Seeing the incoming blade, the Female Titan hardened her arms to deflect the blow. It didn't work, the sword cut right through her hardened arms, as well as her head, sending them dropping to the forest floor.

The Female Titan's body stumbled for a moment, before dropping to the ground, nape exposed.

Link began walking over the headless titan, removing the Giant's Mask as he did so, returning to his normal size. Stepping up on the nape Link drew the Biggorn Sword once more.

"Time to come out, _Annie_ ," Link taunted enunciating the last word. He had figured out her identity during her fight with Eren, he suspected it from the look and the fighting style downright sealed it.

Slicing open the nape, he saw the blonde girl sitting there, eyes closed with tears streaming down her face.

Before Link could grab her though, she disappeared in a purple mist.

Snarling Link sheathed his sword, switched back to his Scouting Legion uniform, and went to go meet up with the others.

* * *

Mikasa arrived just in time to see a giant human in green take on the mysterious Female Titan, but that's not what she was worried about. No, she was too worried about finding someone she couldn't afford to lose.

Scanning the area, she saw Eren slumped on the defeated form of the Rogue Titan. Hurrying over, she found that he had passed out from exhaustion, but was otherwise unharmed.

Sighing a breath of relief, she picked him up, and proceeded to head back to the main forces of the Scouting Legion.

* * *

Levi stood with his squad, they were currently trying to retrieve Gunther's body. Petra, Eld, and Oluo were all mournful, but Levi was another story.

He felt no regret, he had made a decision, and there was no changing that now.

His thoughts were on his newest squad member, and how he had managed to hold his own against the Female titan, and survive.

" _There really is something special about him, he may even be as good as me_ ," Levi thought, looking down at where Link was standing on the ground.

* * *

In the end, the expedition was called off, and the Scouts were ordered to return to Wall Rose. There were too many injuries and casualties too keep going, and the unknown whereabouts of the Female Titan was enough to dishearten most of the unharmed soldiers.

The ride back was fairly uneventful, except for when two of the veteran scouts went back for a friend's body, resulting in the death of one and the loss of all the recovered bodies.

Link just looked on in disgust, he couldn't believe the selfishness of that man, risking the lives of everyone just for a corpse.

Returning inside the wall, he could hear all the insults and remarks against the Scouts, how there were fewer of them, and that they were accomplishing nothing whatsoever.

What really caught his attention though, was that the amount of people in the district seemed to have increased. He could also feel a great amount of tension in the air, almost as if people were about to turn on one another at any moment.

 _"Something big happened while we were gone,"_ Link reasoned _, "I hope I'm wrong about the cause."_

* * *

 _?_

Two hooded figures stood looking down, replaying the fight between Link and Annie. "I see the Hero has not lost any of his flare, nor his skill," the first one spoke.

"No he hasn't, which is both a blessing and a curse," the second one responded.

A third figure appeared next to them, "Sorry for my absence, I was preoccupied with…other matters."

The first figure turned to the third one, "You interacted with him didn't you? You know we aren't supposed to interfere with their lives!"

"There was too much at stake for me not to, if we don't do something then-" the third figure was cut off by the first figure.

"Then what? What could be so important that you felt the need to break our own rules to show him the future?!"

"The fact that _**he**_ could return if I didn't!"

Silence fell across the three, before the second one spoke up, "Are you sure about that? Is that even possible?"

The third figure nodded, "He was never truly defeated, and has been trying to return for millennia. He's become closer than ever, and with the events that are yet to come his return could be very soon."

"Well then," the first figure spoke up, "Let's hope that our Hero is ready for the challenge."

"There's no way anyone could be ready to fight him," the third figure spoke before walking away.

The second figure turned to the first, "If we could hardly stop him, what makes you think that the Hero can?"

"He can't, he can only be ready to use his life to give us the chance to do so," the first figure responded solemnly.

The second figure looked down, seeing the determined face of Link, "It's a shame, after all he's been through, and will have to go through, he really deserves more."

* * *

 _Scouting Legion HQ_

Link was walking outside enjoying the night sky. He was originally going to talk with the Shiganshia trio about his past, but after the fight against Annie, Link decided that Eren needed rest the most.

"Link, over here," a voice called out from the woods. Link's eyes widened, he knew that voice anywhere.

Sprinting into the forest, he came found the source of the voice. Link leaned against one of the trees, "To what do I owe this pleasure, Princess Zelda?"

Zelda gave a small smile, "I finally found you, please walk with me for a moment." Rolling his eyes Link began walking forward, "Your wish is my command."

The two Hylains began to walk throughout the forest, Link catching Zelda up to speed on what he had been doing for the past two years.

"Anyway enough about me, what are you doing here," Link finally managed to ask. Zelda looked Link directly in the eye, "Link, Ganondorf is here, right now."

Link stopped, "Are you sure?"

"I snuck into his castle, and took his portal to get here, when I came through he was finished with preparations, so it wouldn't be much longer before he followed."

Link froze, "Why were you sneaking around Ganondorf's castle?"

"Well when you disappeared, we began trying to make our own portal to find you ,but we didn't have to power to do so, only-" she was cut off as she felt Link's sword against her throat.

Link glared directly into her eyes before speaking slowly, "What did you just say?"

* * *

 _ **AN: Well that one took some time to write. Now to clarify the Giant's Mask. Before I even began writing this story, I checked how much the Giant's Mask makes Link grow. In the N64 version, it makes Link grow about 9 times his original height, as Link is about one third of a segment of the stone pillars in the Twinmold fight normally, and around as tall as three segments with the mask on. Now he grows a little bit bigger in the 3ds version, but again I haven't played that one, so I had the Giant's Mask make Link about 15 meters tall. As for the use of the sword, in the N64 version Link uses his sword for attack while giant, in the 3ds version he does not. I tried to make a compromise of this by combining hand to hand and the use of the sword when fighting against Annie. Until next time!**_


	11. When you think you know someone

**_AN: Do you like Hero's Fall, but wish there was more comedy in it? If so then go check out Hero's Fall Extras, where I upload my attempts at being funny. If you don't care about that kind of stuff, well then sorry for wasting your time._**

* * *

 _Scouting Legion HQ-Forest_

Link kept his sword level with Zelda's throat, neither one moving a muscle.

"Well, princess," Link began, "I'm waiting. I recommend for your own good that you don't make me repeat myself."

Zelda cried in fear, "Link what are you doing? What's gotten into you?"

"Don't play dumb with me, you know what I'm talking about."

"No, I really don't. Why are you pointing your sword at me?"

Link shifted his stance, holding the length of the blade against the princess's throat. "Tell me, how did you know I got sent to another dimension?"

Zelda paled, she had slipped up again, this time it would cost her. Choosing her words carefully she spoke, "I knew that you were gone, due to your sudden disappearance."

"I was going to fight Ganondorf, he could have killed me," Link deadpanned.

"Yes, well he didn't have the Triforce of Courage with him."

"I could have sent it away from me, or shattered it into pieces to keep it from him."

"He had the Triforce of Wisdom, there was no way that could happen."

"That reminds me, how are you still alive? Ganondorf wouldn't just spare your life, not if he had two Triforce pieces."

Zelda remained silent, looking away. Link's eyes widened in realization. "He didn't take the Triforce did he? No you gave it to him, didn't you?"

Zelda looked back at Link, she wanted to run seeing the rage in his eyes. "No, I would never do such a thing," Zelda spoke in a panic.

"Don't lie to me princess, it's obvious that's what happened. The fact that Ganondorf had the Triforce of Wisdom, when you were supposed to be in hiding. The fact that you knew I was still alive, despite me disappearing after fighting Ganondorf, and that you knew I was in a different dimension. It all adds up."

* * *

 _Zelda's point of view_

No, this isn't right. He wasn't supposed to find out!

"I'm going to give you one chance to save yourself, explain to me why you allowed me to be sent here by the count of five, and I'll let you live," I hear him say.

How am I supposed to tell him, what am I supposed to tell him?! I can't say the full reason, that wouldn't do me any good.

"One."

No, there's not enough time.

"Two."

I feel my breath growing quicker, is this how I die?

"Three."

I should have never have come here.

"Four."

My mouth moves on its own, "I did it for you!"

His counting stops, though his glare does not lessen. He lowers his sword, I may be able to get through this yet. I just have to tread slowly, and hope that he doesn't press to much further.

His tone is harsh as he bites out, "What exactly does that mean?"

* * *

 _No point of view_

Zelda's breathing became more regular as she calmed herself down.

"Yes I went to Ganondorf, and yes I gave him the Triforce of Wisdom. Though I did it for you," She spoke quietly, looking down.

"How is giving the King of all Evil more power helping me," Link spat out.

"You would have died if I didn't."

"No I wouldn't have, I could have won if he only had the Triforce of Power."

"Yes you could have, but it would have cost you your life."

"You don't know that, I could have easily survived."

"No you couldn't!" Zelda screamed, surprising Link.

Zelda looked up, "Your not the only person who can play the Song of Time."

Link was silent, so Zelda went on, "I've watched you die countless times. Yes you managed to defeat Ganondorf, but you wouldn't win either. Believe me I tried to live with it, but I just couldn't. You deserved so much more, after all that you had done, after how long you had suffered. No matter how hard I tried though, I could not save you."

"So your grand solution was to make him even stronger, so that I would die in vain?"

"NO! I gave him the Triforce of Wisdom, but made him promise to spare your life. To make sure he didn't double cross me I used the Triforce of Wisdom to bind him to his word, otherwise it would be lost to him forever. He gave his word, that he would simply send you to a different world."

"I can't believe you, you were willing to put everyone in Hyrule under Ganondorf's foot, just so I could live?!"

"We had a plan to seal him away once he had the full Triforce, but then you went and took back the Triforce of Courage!"

"Oh, and you thought it would be a good idea to not include me on this plan, and then just leave me stranded in a different world?"

"We didn't tell you because we knew you would refuse to take part in it, and we were working on a way to bring you back!"

Link paused, before speaking, "I'm going to let you go for old times sake, but I want you to understand one thing before you leave."

Link leaned in, until their noses were an inch apart. Glaring directly in her eyes, he spoke, "Don't cross me your Highness. Should you interfere with my plans again, you won't like the consequences. Get in my way any more, and you better hope that you perish before I get to you."

Zelda's eyes widened in shock, to which Link rolled his eyes. "Don't look so surprised Zelda, do you really think I'm going to forgive you for letting hundreds die in my name? No, so if I were you, I would start praying that you never see me again."

Zelda slowly backed away, before turning around in a full sprint, tears running down her face as she did.

" _Link, you still haven't changed. You are still the same person that I had no choice but to double cross. Link, when did you become like this?_ "

* * *

Eren sighed as he opened his eyes once more, no progress had been made. Armin looked over to his friend, "Still having trouble?"

Eren nodded, "No matter how hard I try, I can never get any further. I'm always being tricked by some illusion, or the room I'm in has no way out. How am I supposed to master this Titan power, if I can't even do a simple training exercise?"

"I don't think it's that simple, if Link is right then completing it means you have complete mental control. I doubt it's meant to be done in a month."

"I know that, but we don't have time to spare here Armin! Just today, I was beaten to a pulp, and there was nothing I could do about it. That bitch killed numerous scouts, including Gunther, and I failed to bring her down. Hell, if I failed then the rest of the Levi Squad could have been killed as well!"

Armin sat silent as Eren paused, hanging his head. "I just wish there was a way to become more powerful, one that would allow me to protect everyone."

Armin was about to speak before he noticed something he never thought he would witness, there were tears streaming down Eren's face.

" _That last fight really got to him, I can't remember the last time I saw him cry,_ " Armin thought. "Eren, don't beat yourself up about this, there was only so much you could do. In fact, without you the rest of the Levi Squad might have been killed as well!"

Eren raised his head, "You don't get it Armin, I couldn't stop her, yes things went well this time, but what about in the future? What if I'm not strong enough to save you, or Mikasa? Jean, Connie, Reiner, Bertholdt, Sasha, Christa, Ymir, and everyone else, their all counting on me. How am I supposed to be the savior of humanity, if I can't protect even a few people?"

"Eren, you can't-"

"Shut up Armin!" Eren turned his head to his friend, his eyes full of fire, "Don't try and console me, you can't know the weight of the burden I'm carrying right now!"

Armin returned the glare, he'd had enough, "Who in the hell made you in charge of who lives and who dies? You don't get to determine who will survive, whether it be your own fault or out of your control. I can tell you one thing though, not one soldier that died today was unaware of the risks. They all knew what was at stake, and they still signed on for it. Besides not one soldier died in vain, we took care of that abnormal titan."

"Did we though? According to everyone present, it just vanished after I lost."

"Even if it is still out there, you managed to hold your own for a while, what happened at the end?"

"I remember that I focused my mind, and used one of Link's techniques. Then when it performed a move that seemed familiar, I froze and my brain went crazy."

"So it seems that your loss was due to your lack of mental control, just like Link predicted."

"Yes, but that brings us back to the original problem, I can't beat that stupid training exercise."

"Well then your just going to have to keep trying until you can do it. Is there any other way that you could move forward?"

Eren's mind raced, trying to think of a solution, only for the memory of Link surviving the Female Titan's foot to appear. Eren shot up,"That's it!"

Armin who was not prepared for the sudden exclamation almost fell off his chair, but recovered in time to avoid falling.

"What, did you figure it out?"

"No, but it just came to me Link has some pretty weird stuff, I bet that's how he survived being stepped on by the Female Titan."

"I don't like where this is going."

"Maybe if we sneak into his room, we can find something that can help me out in the training exercise!"

"I don't think that's a good idea. Remember what happened with Jean and Connie when they touched Link's stuff?" Armin shuddered at the memory.

"Fair point, but we aren't going to take anything, just look around. If I see anything useful, then I can just imagine it in that stone tower place."

Armin sighed, "I have a feeling that we're going to regret this."

* * *

 _Hyrule-present_

A young man dressed in military armor stood before the gates to Ganon's Castle. His name was unknown in the land but that is what he was hoping to change here and now.

He looked out to the castle that once belonged to the royal family of Hyrule, shouting out, "Ganondorf, hear my name and tremble, for I, Trei, shall strike you down here and now! Your reign of terror on this land shall end today, face me should you dare!"

Slowly the gate to the castle raised, and the heavy door swung open, almost as if it were accepting the soldier's challenge. Swallowing his fears, Trei stepped forward and entered the castle.

Not even a few steps in and he was sickened, bodies of the old servants and knights laid through the corridors, some still fresh.

Walking through an open doorway, he barely had time to duck, as a large axe embedded itself in the wall, at the same height of his neck. Drawing his blade, the soldier turned to face his foe, and steeled his nerves.

A larger than average Iron Knuckle was standing on the opposite side of the room, still in the position from throwing the weapon. Stepping back, it grabbed two more axes, one for each hand, ready to fight.

Trei took his own stance, holding his shield forward, and keeping his Magic Sword down by his hip. The two stared each other down for a few seconds, neither one moving, waiting for each other to make the first move.

It was the knight who began the fight, performing a jump slash hoping to cut through the monster's armor. The attack did little against the monster only causing a small scratch.

The Iron Master swung both axes in a cross motion, prompting the soldier to raise his red shield in defense. Blocking the attack Trei swung again at the monster, only to get the same result.

In retaliation, the Iron Master swung the axe wielded in his right hand directly downward, only for Trei to jump to the his right. Anticipating this, the armored creature swung its left axe horizontally, catching to soldier, sending him flying and shattering his armor.

Realizing that he was in serious danger, Trei began putting some distance between him and the Iron Master. Growing tired of the intruder, the monster proceeded to throw another axe, hoping to catch Trei off guard.

Quickly positioning himself, Trei blocked the attack with his shield, causing the thrown weapon to fall to the ground. Trei dropped to the ground, barely managing to lift the heavy axe as he got back up.

Using all of his strength, the knight swung the axe, the Iron Master being too slow to get out of the way. Like Trei, the monster had its armor shattered, and was now exposed.

Trei smirked, he could do this now, who needed the so called "Hero"?

* * *

 _Scouting Legion HQ_

Commander Erwin was leaving the castle, he had been summoned by Commander Pixis for reasons unknown.

His head was currently reeling, there had been so much that occurred during their journey outside the wall. A new Titan-shifter had revealed themselves, that new recruit had survived one on one conflict with it, there was a death in the Levi Squad. Now he was being summoned in the middle of the night, what was going on?

"Commander Erwin," a voice called out, bringing him back to reality. He turned towards where the voice had come from to see the very person he had just been thinking about approaching.

Running up to the commander, Link proceeded to hold something out, before pausing and saluting instead.

"At ease," Erwin allowed, before continuing, "what is it soldier?"

Link relaxed his muscles before speaking, "News from the Military Police sir, the whole inner wall has been swarmed by strange monsters. Most inhabitants have been killed, while the remainder fled to Wall Rose."

" _That explains the increase in people when we returned,_ " Erwin thought, his face betraying no emotion. "I see, I will bring this up in my meeting with commander Pixis, perhaps we can form a task force to retake Wall Sina. May I ask though, what's with that paper your holding?"

Link looked confused, before his face turned to one of realization. "Oh, I almost forgot, there was another message from them, confidential of course."

Link proceeded to hand the paper to Erwin, stepping back once he did. Erwin unfolded the message, only to see the word, "Goodbye," written on it.

Before Erwin could even feel confusion or worry about the strange message, his eyes widened as he felt a foreign object enter into his abdomen. Looking up from the paper, he was met with the sight of Link in a lunge, holding onto the double edged sword that had just impaled him.

Feeling his muscles go weak, he managed to get out a strangled, "Why?"

Link looked up at him, before smirking, "Because, I'm angry, and I needed something to kill." Twisting his feet, Link performed the spin attack, severing the commanders body in two.

Link stood over Erwin's corpse, with an evil smile on his face, before a loud shriek caused him to turn his head to the entrance of the castle.

There stood Petra, Eld, and Oluo, each wearing an expression of shock and disgust. Soon the shock faded away, and the disgust was replaced with anger, the three drawing their weapons.

Link just raised his right hand, and beckoned them to come on.

* * *

Eren and Armin were looking around Link's room, when they heard the loud shriek. The two quickly turned to each other, before running out the door.

Entering the hallway, the found that every scout was currently heading to the entrance as fast as they could. Before the two could follow they heard Mikasa calling out their names.

"I heard someone scream," she began once she caught up with them, "Are you two OK?"

Armin replied, "We're fine, but what caused that?"

Mikasa shook her head, "I don't know, but it can't be good. We should stick together, that way I can protect you two."

Eren glared, and was about to protest, but Armin grabbed his arm shooting him a look that said, "Not now."

Relenting, Eren agreed, and the three began to run towards the entrance to the castle, hearing sounds of fighting the closer they got.

When they finally did make it outside, they could not believe their eyes.

* * *

Link stood still as the three charged at him, waiting. Oluo reached him first, and the elite soldier proceeded to swing both his blades in the same direction.

Link lazily brought his sword up to block, before backhanding Oluo across the face. Oluo stumbled back, Link followed up by bringing his knee directly up into the older man's gut.

Oluo doubled over and fell to his knees, feeling like he was going to puke. Link twirled his sword for a bit, before attempting to drive it into the back of his victim's neck.

Just before the blade pierced the skin, Petra struck, causing Link to backflip away. Looking up to face his attacker, he quickly turned to his right, and swung horizontally.

Eld, who had been attempting a sneak attack, caught the full force of the strike, and fell to the ground, with a huge gash in his chest.

During that period, Petra had been rushing at Link, attempting to combo attack with Eld, only to get her throat grabbed before she could attack.

Link smirked, "This is what counts as an elite soldier? Pathetic." Turning around, Link threw her as hard as he could, right into the base of one of the trees at the forest's edge.

Petra crashed into the tree with a loud snap, before crumpling onto the ground. She tried to get herself up, only to find that she couldn't move, her spine was broken.

At least that's what she thought, until the snapping sound continued, looking up her eyes filled with horror. The tree she had been thrown into was falling over, right on top of her. She desperately tried move to save herself, but it was for naught.

Petra screamed as the tree fell, the sound of the impact drowning out her cries of help. Oluo had gotten back up by this point, and seeing the death of Petra enraged him.

Forgetting his weapons, he threw a right hook at Link whose back was turned. Link didn't even turn as he caught Oluo's punch, before turning his head to give a disappointed look. Sheathing his sword, Link grabbed Oluo's arm with his left hand before swinging him into the ground, face first.

Oluo then felt a weight on his back, followed the feeling of his arm being pulled. The pulling feeling soon turned into excruciating pain, followed by a sickening sound ripping through the air.

Link had torn Oluo's arm clean off, before he put the man out of his misery by stabbing him through the heart.

By this point many scouts had arrived on the scene, but the mere sight of Link standing over the corpse of Oluo, holding the man's arm was enough to freeze them in place.

Link just raised Oluo's bloodied arm, "Anyone need a hand with anything?"

That was enough to anger the scouts into action. The veterans let out a mighty war cry, and advanced.

Link just narrowed his eyes, this was going to be easy.

* * *

Eren looked on in disbelief, there was no way this could be happening. Link had already killed most of the Levi Squad, and was now proceeding to decimate the remaining forces of the Scouting Legion.

Eren's rage quickly grew as he saw the person he considered a friend murder another soldier like it was nothing. The veterans quickly drew back, their numbers now halved after only one minute.

Link was about to give chase when Eren descended from the sky, attempting to slice him in two. Link blocked the strike, and allowed the titan-shifter to touch the ground.

Swords still connected Eren shouted, "Link what the hell are you doing?!"

"What I should have done from the start," Link responded monotone.

"What's that supposed to mean, why are you doing this?!"

"I don't care about this war with the titans, nor do I care about you. I joined the military because I was bored and wanted to screw with people."

"If you don't care about the war, then why did you try and help me gain control over this power?"

"That? Please that was just a joke, beating the training exercise won't do anything for you, I just wanted to put you through a living torture to test your determination. As for Mikasa, I wanted to break her, show her who is really the strongest trainee."

Eren's eyes were starting to water, but his rage quickly took over. "If that's how you feel, THEN YOU CAN GO STRAIGHT TO HELL!"

Eren pushed forward with his swords, only for Link to push harder, causing Eren to lose his balance.

Looking at Link, Eren bit his thumb, turning into a titan once again.

While Eren towered over Link, the latter just spoke in a sarcastic tone, "Oh no, Eren has turned into a titan, whatever shall I do?"

Eren threw a punch directly down, attempting to crush Link, only to have him roll forward, going under the fist, and through the space between the giant's legs.

Before Eren could recover from the missed punch, Link charged his sword with magic, and performed the Great Spin Attack, severing the Rogue Titan's Achilles' tendons, bringing it down.

Trying to push himself off the ground, Eren felt his titan self go limp, Link had cut him out from the titan body.

Link grabbed Eren by the shirt, and brought his sword up to finish him off, before suddenly dropping him and proceeding to dodge the oncoming attacks from an enraged Mikasa.

"To think, you are considered one of Humanity's finest soldiers," Link taunted as he easily avoided another strike.

Link continued, "How must it feel, being alone, doomed to never have your feelings requited. Too bad you're too much of a coward to actually say anything, then you might find some solace."

Mikasa picked up the pace of her onslaught, wanting nothing more than to silence the smug bastard right in front of her.

"My, it seems that you have more fight in you than I thought," Link complemented, "Now I'm actually having to try to avoid your swings. Sadly I grow weary of this."

Link then begun to counterattack, beginning with a heavy downward swing. Mikasa's attempt to block caused her blades to shatter in two. Link proceeded to kick her right in the chin, bringing Mikasa off the ground a little. Following up, Link spun around and delivered a side kick right in her midsection.

This sent Mikasa tumbling, landing on the ground before slowly sliding to a stop. Rolling onto her back, she was greeted by the sight of Link in the air right above her.

Doing a somersault in the air, Link pointed his sword downward and begun to fall, performing the Ending Blow. Mikasa's eyes widened as she waited for the end to come.

* * *

 _ **AN: Man this one took some time to write. I wanted to have it out two Saturdays ago, but I kinda slacked off sorry about that. I'm happier than normal though, because I just recently found out that I got a five on my AP Calculus test, so that's nice. Until next time!**_


	12. A shadow of his former self

**_AN: So I really want to replay Twilight Princess, but I also don't want to go through the beginning of them game. First world problems at their finest._**

* * *

It never came. Just before the tip of the blade made contact, Mikasa felt a sharp pain rip through her shoulder. Not a second later, she was dragged across the ground, away from the impending death.

The pain in her shoulder lessened as she felt the foreign object be removed, followed by the voice of her unknown savior.

"Link," Sasha began, glaring at the kneeling figure, "How could you do such a thing? I thought we were friends!"

Link stood up, removing his sword from the ground, before letting out a laugh, "Oh please, don't act so surprised, I never really liked any of you. Think about it, when did I ever say we were friends?"

Sasha had a hurt look on her face, almost looking ready to cry. Gritting her teeth and renewing her glare she drew her blades.

Link stopped laughing, gaining a look of disappointment, "Really Potato Girl? I just wiped the floor with Mikasa Ackerman, and now you want to try and take me down?"

Sasha gave no response, just remained still, almost as if she were debating the decision herself. By this point Eren had gotten back up and, seeing that Link had his back turned to him, launched himself right at the Hylian.

Sasha caught sight of Eren's attack and followed suit, hoping to overwhelm Link with numbers.

Link just narrowed his eyes with a smirk on his face, "They just never learn."

Once Eren was right behind him, Link jammed the hilt of his sword into the Titan-shifter's face, before grabbing him by the neck with his other hand, and using him to block Sasha's oncoming stab.

Sasha's attack went right through Eren, not quite reaching her target on the other side. Sasha let out a gasp at her mistake, removing her blade quickly, stepping back as she did.

Link let go of Eren before turning to the redhead, who was now shaking with fear.

Link gave a cocky grin, "Don't worry about stabbing him, you won't live long enough to regret it."

Raising his sword, Link brought it straight down, with the intent to kill. Sasha dove out of the way, eyes closed, tears streaming down her face.

Looking back, she saw Link was right behind her, about to stab her through the heart.

Gathering her nerves, she flipped over and sent a kick right to his knees. Link brought his sword down, blocking the attack, as well as leaving a nasty gash in her leg.

Link raised his sword up to finish the terrified girl, only to move to the right, to avoid another attempted sneak attack. Connie now stood between Link and Sasha with a blazing fire in his eyes.

Link just sighed, this was starting to get annoying.

* * *

Armin stood off to the side, watching in disbelief. How could Link, their friend do something like this? Something was not right, the more he watched Link fight, the more he got the feeling there was more going on here than it seemed.

" _There's something different about him_ ," Armin thought, " _He never calls Sasha Potato Girl. Also he hasn't done that move he always uses, normally he would have done that spin thing at least once by now. Ugh, I hate standing here and doing nothing! But what can I do, I'm useless when it comes to things like this!_ "

Armin looked back at Link, who was now standing over the defeated figure of Connie, his foot on top of the scout's bald head.

" _This is bad, it's obvious none of us can defeat him, we can't even catch him by surprise._ " An image of Captain Levi flashed through his memory, " _Maybe he could, but where is he right now? The most I can do is try and buy time for him to show up_."

* * *

"You know, you never were good at making intelligent decisions Connie, but this is by far the worst mistake you've ever made," Link taunted as he applied more pressure to Connie's head.

"Hey Link," Armin shouted out, grabbing the Hero's attention. Link turned around, giving an interested look towards the other blonde.

Armin steeled himself, "Who's making you do this Link? There's no way that you would do this of your own free will."

"Really, and what makes you say that?"

"I've seen the way you fight, it's nothing like what you were just doing, and don't think I didn't notice your name calling, you've always respected people. The Link I know would never do anything like that. Tell me, whose forcing you to do this."

"No one, I'm in complete control, I've always been this way."

"I don't believe you, otherwise you would have done it long ago, back before we even joined the scouts!"

"Please, you don't know me, nor do you understand my methods. You want to know my reasoning for doing this? Fine. You're all weak, and not worth my time, especially you Armin. All of you are going to do nothing but get other people killed, and if you aren't strong enough to survive me, then you aren't strong enough to survive outside the walls. I'm just weeding out all the unworthy people."

"What gives you that right, to determine who lives and who dies? You are just as human as the rest of us, no one has the authority over someone else's life."

Link paused, almost as if he were considering Armin's words, before the same evil grin broke out on his face. "You have no clue about the things to come do you? You have no idea about the kind of power that exists in this world now."

With that, Link stepped off Connie, and lunged right at Armin, bringing his sword back ready to cleave him in two. Armin froze in place, losing the ability to move. " _What, what's going on with my body, why am I just standing still?_ "

Link drew closer, until he was right in front of his target. Armin could only scream as he felt the blade make contact with his torso.

That's as far as the sword went however, as before it made contact, a blue orb flew into Armin, creating a transparent diamond around him, protecting him from the attack.

Link backed away, shock in his eyes. "How, where did you manage to learn THAT?!"

"He didn't," a voice called out, "I did."

Armin and Link turned to face the direction the voice came from, somehow making Armin's eyes grow even wider.

A furious looking Link strode up to the pair, blue eyes burning with rage. Looking at the other Link he began, "Now tell me, what exactly are you doing here?

* * *

Armin couldn't believe his eyes, and pretty soon he uttered out the only thought on his mind, "There's two of you?"

The Link that had just shown up responded, "No, there's only one of me. Isn't that right, Dark Link?"

The other Link just let out another laugh, "As always, you waste no time, kind of ironic given your title isn't it?"

Armin just stared in confusion, "Dark Link, what does that mean? Link, what the hell is going on here?"

Link kept his gaze fixed on his double, "Armin, there isn't time for the full story right now, all you need to know is that this is basically a physical embodiment of my bad side, created with the sole purpose of killing me."

Armin gave a look of disbelief, "That's impossible, no such thing exists."

Link's duplicate smirked, "Well, you know what they say, seeing is believing. Not that it matters, you won't live to tell the tale."

There was a blinding golden flash, causing Link and Armin to cover their eyes. When the two could see again, the other Link was still there, only now he was dressed in all black, had demonic red eyes, grey hair, and pitch black skin.

Link stood his ground, "Armin, take the others, and get them out of here."

Armin gaped at Link, "Are you crazy, we're not going to let you fight this guy alone. You need our help!"

Link gave a sideways glance to the other blonde, "There's nothing you can do. Just looking around the courtyard tells me all I need to know, you guys would just get in the way."

Link's words echoed in Armin's ears, they sounded so similar to the words spoken by the evil version of Link. Yet there was also something different about it, unlike the shadow's tone Link's tone carried something in it that Armin could not quite place.

Despite not liking it, Armin knew Link was right, there really was nothing the scouts could do to in this situation.

Dark Link cackled, "I don't think so hero. Your friends are going to stay right here and watch as I gut you like the worm you are, then once I've finished with you, I'll slaughter them next!"

Dark Link extended his hand out before spinning in a circle, flames rising out of the ground as he did so. Before Armin could even take three steps, the whole courtyard was encircled in flames, preventing any entry, or escape.

Link narrowed his gaze, "That was the worst decision you could have made."

Dark Link gained an apathetic expression, "Oh really, and how have I done that?"

Link met his shadow's stare, his own eyes ablaze, "You just trapped yourself with me."

Dark Link drew his sword, also withdrawing a black shield with it, "That was the plan, I don't want you to run away form me like you did Hyrule. Now are you going to be a good boy and hand over the Triforce of Courage, or do I have to wrench it from your dying grasp?"

Link drew his Gilded Sword in response, "I'd like to see you-" he was cut off as Dark Link launched an attack, barley giving him any time to dodge.

Link backflipped, putting some distance between him and the shadow, not taking his eyes off his opponent. As Link landed on the ground, Dark Link pressed his attack with a high swing.

Link ducked to avoid the slash, before getting hit in the face by a shield bash from Dark Link, who then followed up by jumping over the Hero. While airborne, Dark Link performed a front flip, hitting Link in the back of the head with his sword in the process.

Stumbling a bit from the blow, Link turned around to face the shadow, only to catch a glimpse of him rolling behind him. Dark Link then jumped as he was getting up from the roll, attempting to hit Link's back, only for the Hero to perform the Mortal Draw, blocking the strike.

"Don't forget, I'm the one who came up with those techniques," Link spat out, as he pushed harder against Dark Link's blade.

Dark Link grinned, "Don't forget, I am you."

Dark Link withdrew from the clash between swords, causing Link to fall off balance. The shadow rushed forward to strike the falling Hero, before having to hastily dodge to the side.

Link had used the momentum from his fall to roll forward, thrusting his sword forward as he exited the roll, catching Dark Link by surprise.

Link stayed on the offensive trying to hit Dark Link with a spin attack. The duplicate rolled under the attack and swung upwards, catching Link in the stomach.

The shadow smirked at drawing first blood, before the sight of his own face coming towards him wiped the smug look off of it.

The hit from the Mirror Shield sent Dark Link tumbling for a few feet, before he righted himself, now crouched on the ground.

Looking up, he saw Link in the air, performing the Jump Strike. Dark Link adjusted his stance, bringing his own shield up to defend.

Link brought his sword down making a direct hit with his shadow's shield, the force of the impact creating a small shockwave.

Dark Link pushed with his shield, unable to get Link off him.

Link, sensing that they were at an impasse, backed off giving his opponent the chance to right himself. The two stood directly apart from one another, neither one making a move, both spinning their swords in their hands, waiting to see who would make the first move.

Link's anger began to grow the more he thought about his current enemy, the one who had caused him so much grief.

" _This time, I'll make sure you stay dead for good_ ," he thought as he remembered the death his double had caused.

* * *

 _Hyrule-Future Death Mountain_

Hyrulian forces were currently investigating the inside of a cavern due to reports of Ganondorf's forces occupying it. Link was leading the Hylian soldiers, and Darunia had brought along goron forces to help guide the unfamiliar human soldiers through the mountain's cave labyrinths.

For the most part, things were quite, no monsters were in sight, and they were almost through the caves.

That's when problems started to occur. A small group of Hylian soldiers were walking in a large open area next to a lava lake, when an explosion occurred on the cavern wall directly on their right.

The resulting blast caused a landslide, which buried the soldiers in a matter of seconds. Darunia and his squad were close enough that they heard the explosion, and they rushed to the area where it occurred.

The scene that awaited them, was of Link looting their corpses, and giving any weapons, armor, and ammunition (arrows), to monsters of all kinds.

Darunia was shocked at the actions of his sworn brother, until the real Link arrived a few seconds later also having heard the explosion.

Not seeing any need to hide his identity anymore, Dark Link showed his true form, and proceeded to taunt Link, trying to goad him into battle.

Link accepted the challenge, after Darunia assured him that he and his gorons could handle Ganondorf's minions just fine. Trusting in his friend Link took off, giving chase to the shadowy double.

Dark Link led him far from the others, until they were in a that almost seemed destined to be an arena. It was a dome shaped out of the rock, with a path to a circular area in the middle of a lava pool.

In the center of the circle, Dark Link stood, beckoning the Hero to attack. Link obliged, and soon a heated battle began, no side showing any sign of weakness.

Link was able to get the advantage by using the Back Slice, giving him the slight edge he needed to win the fight. After his defeat, Dark Link lay on the ground, slowly fading.

Before he died completely however, he revealed that there were bombs all throughout the upper layers, and that as soon as he died, they would explode, killing anyone in the caves.

After this reveal, Link sped off to his allies, desperate to reach them in time to warn them of the oncoming death. When he reached them, he told Darunia of the danger, only for blasts to shake the chamber they were currently in.

Ordering a full retreat all forces began fleeing, whether monster, human, or goron. They were almost out of the caves when the ceiling begun to collapse in front of the exit.

Not wanting his brothers to die, Daruni rolled forward, and proceeded to hold up the falling tunnel. His efforts payed off, as all Hylian and goron soldiers were able to escape.

Link turned back to assist his sworn brother, only for Darunia's strength to give out, causing the passage to collapse on him. Link stood at the collapsed cave entrance, staring in horror, unable to move.

It wasn't long before his sorrow turned into fury, and he ordered his men to leave. The gorons insisted on digging out Darunia's body, but Link told them to depart for the night, and return the next morning.

Once everyone had left, Link walked towards the monsters that had been captured, drawing his Gilded Sword as he advanced. All throughout Hyrule, the monsters' screams were heard from sunset, and not ceasing until sunrise.

* * *

 _Wall Rose-Present_

That was the last time that Link had seen his dark duplicate, until now.

Seeing him once more only brought Link's pain and rage from all those years ago back to light. He had lost a brother that day, and he swore that he would not rest, until Darunia could rest peacefully.

Dark Link meanwhile, could not be happier. Things were going right according to plan, and soon it would be over. Just as he anticipated, Link dashed forward, before going for a jump attack.

Dark Link jumped to the side, and countered with his own jump attack, which Link blocked with his shield. Link let loose a barrage of attacks, backing Dark Link up, who was struggling to block the strikes.

Despite being pushed back, Dark Link was not worried, he was waiting patiently for his opening that he knew was coming.

Almost exactly on cue, Link went for a stab, trying to take advantage of the open spot he managed to create.

Link made one mistake with the stab though, when he went for the first one out of the roll, the edge of the blade was pointed upwards. This time, the edge was parallel to the ground, which proved to be a grave error.

Dark Link jumped upward, landing on Link's sword, not letting the Hero move his blade at all. Link looked up, only to see the evil grin on his shadow's held, before the duplicate's foot made contact with his face.

Link stumbled back for a few seconds, but that was all Dark Link needed. With the Hero now open, Dark Link released his own attack chain, each one hitting its mark.

Dark Link finished the assault by slashing Link across the chest diagonally, making a cut across the scar from Ganondorf's last attack, before smashing the Hero's face with his shield.

The resulting impact was enough to send Link flying backwards, losing his grip on his Gilded Sword and Mirror Shield in the process.

The Hero of Time crashed into one of the castle walls, before sliding down, until he was resting on the ground.

"Is that really all you have? I'm dissapointed," the shadow taunted as he begun walking towards the downed Hero.

Vision blurry Link managed to make out the slowly approaching figure of Dark Link, until darkness overwhelmed him, and he fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

Eren was beginning to stir, the hole in his chest now gone due to his healing abilities. Slowly, the events of what had happened before he fell unconscious came back to him.

The memories of Link killing the Levi Squad, attempting to kill him, Mikasa, and Sasha all flooded back. His anger fueling him, he shot to his feet, ready to continue the fight, only to stop at the sight before him.

There was Link, resting slack against a tree, with a creature that looked just like him only all black, walking towards him. Eren recognized the sword that the creature held as the one that had been used against him and the other scouts just a few minutes ago.

Putting two and two together Eren stood up ready to continue the battle, until something caught his arm. Turning his head, he saw that it was Armin, who just shook his head.

"There's nothing you can do at this point Eren, trying to fight that thing will only get you killed." Eren gave a glare at his friend, before memories of his quick defeat flashed through his mind, making him see the truth in his friends words. Still that wasn't going to stop him, until another smaller ring of fire rose up around Link and his double, barring entry. Now unable to help, Eren's eyes widened in realization as he remembered something else.

"Armin," he spoke with a tone of urgency, "is Mikasa ok? She's still alive isn't she?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine," her voice called out, as she stepped up to stand next to her two friends.

Eren breathed a small breath of relief, before the reality of the situation came back to him. The three watched as Dark Link drew closer to Link, unable to do anything else.

* * *

 _Link POV_

Darkness, that's all I can see. I don't even know where I am, I'm just standing in a pitch black void.

A voice calls out making my eyes widen at the familiarity, "Are you really going to give in that easy?"

I turn, and there she sits in the darkness, all alone just like the last time I saw her, Saria. She turns to look at me with those eyes, the eyes that were never cruel, never judging, the eyes of my first true friend.

She has a concerned look, "Quitting isn't you Link, for as long as I've known you, you would always continue on, no matter the odds."

At this point, I remember what just happened, I got defeated by Dark Link. I can't even respond to her statement, there's nothing I can say.

Another voice comes out from the shadows, "I'm with her, you always stood and fought, even when you were completely outmatched. In fact that's why I gave you that spiritual stone in the first place!"

I turn, there she is, princess of the zoras, as cheeky as ever.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm not giving up here," I retort, my words laced with venom.

"Yes you are," Ruto fires back, "You're giving up on those you call friends, by sitting there and waiting for death. The Link I know would never sit still and accept fate."

A booming voice follows, "Yeah, no brother of mine would ever stoop so low!" Darunia's here now as well, looking ready to dance at a moments notice.

"Oh come on, do you think that I would let him just win? He's the reason that you died"

Darunia laughed, "Yes, in a different time, I'm as alive as ever now. Don't let things that didn't happen affect you."

"But it did happen," I shout back, "I remember it as if it were yesterday!"

Darunia's face then morphs into the same look that he wore the first time I saw him, "Then I should be ashamed to call you my brother, as you won't even keep the promises to yourself. You swore that you would give me peace, but here you are accepting death from my killer."

That catches me off guard, before Saria speaks again, "You can do this Link, we all know you can. Forget about Zelda's actions, do what you do best, and save people."

I look around, Saria flashes me a expression of encouragement, Ruto does the same as well, Darunia has the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face. But just like that they all fade away, almost as if they were never there, and a new voice calls out.

"I've chosen you for a reason, I hope I wasn't wrong in that choice."

The voice is unfamiliar, and brings up questions to who it is. Though slowly the strange voice is forgotten, and I remember the words of my friends.

They're right, I don't give up, I'm the Hero of Time!

I am not going to lay down and take death, from some pathetic double, I am the original, the Hero!

I feel my strength return, it's time show Dark Link what he's up against.

* * *

 _No Point of View_

Dark Link stands in front of the unconscious Link, sword raised. "All too easy," the shadow smirks, as he brings the blade down.

Link's arm shoots up, catching the sword mid-swing, Dark Link's eyes widen. Link's eyes open, he rises to his feet, still holding Dark Link's sword.

"What the-" Dark Link is cut off as Link's knee is jammed into his torso, followed by an elbow to the face.

Dark Link is launched back, letting go of his sword, and dropping his shield.

Link looks at the shadow's sword, before throwing it to the side, cracking his knuckles as he walks forward. Dark Link his back on his feet by this point, rubbing his jaw, as he walks toward the approaching Hero.

Once the two are within attacking distance, Dark Link throws a left hook at Link's head. Link drops for a leg sweep, causing the attack to hit thin air. Link hits Dark Link's legs, bringing the copy down to the ground.

Link then grabs Dark Link by the collar, and throws him over to where he had just woken up. Dark Link lands face first into the ground, before pushing himself back up with his arms, growling at Link.

In the corner of his eye, Dark Link spots his sword, laying on the ground. The double dives for his weapon, picking it back up, once more rising to his feet.

Dark Link laughs, "Might as well give up Hero, you have no chance bare handed against me."

Link just extends a hand, and beckons the shadow to bring it.

" _I could just draw the Master Sword or Biggoron Sword, but that would just be too easy,_ " Link thinks to himself as his doppelgänger approaches.

Dark Link goes for a horizontal swing, Link rolls under it, kicking upward as he rises, knocking the sword once more out of Dark Link's hand, and into the air.

Not giving the shadow any time to react, Link grabs the back of Dark Link's neck with his left hand, sweeping the shadow's leg from the front while pushing down simultaneously on the neck, causing him to front flip in the air.

Jumping up, Link intercepts Dark Link's sword, and grabbing it, throws it at the airborne Dark Link. The blade goes through the front of Dark Link's chest, sending him to the ground, before Link lands on the hilt, pining the shadow down.

Link jumps off Dark Link standing in front of the double that is now stuck to the ground with his own sword, the ring of fire now lowering.

"Looks like I win again," Link taunts, panting heavily, starting to feel his wounds.

Dark Link laughs, "It's not over yet, Hero."

Link gives a condescending look, "Oh please, you can't survive a wound like that, you never have before."

The shadow laughs louder, "You're right, against the old me the fight would be over, but thanks to your little friend over there, the great Gannondorf was able to give me more power."

"What does that me-" Link stopped mid-sentence as he saw steam rising from the wound in Dark Link's chest.

Dark Link smirked, "Goodbye, Hero."

Link turned around, and dove forward to avoid the giant bolt of orange energy that descended from the sky, striking Dark Link.

* * *

 _ **AN: I was originally going to flesh out Link's flashback, but then I realized that it would be redundant, as it would just be another Dark Link fight, when this whole chapter is about a Dark Link fight. Also I didn't want to have to write any more fight scenes, as let's be honest here, they really aren't my strong suit.**_


	13. Titanic trouble

_**AN: Well its been awhile, hasn't it. I found some time to continue writing this for a little bit, so there may be more chapters on the way soon, who knows. Warning, Manga spoilers will start in this chapter, if you do not want to be spoiled for Attack on Titan, then do not continue to the end of this chapter. Anyway with nothing more to say, then lets get going.**_

* * *

Link shielded his eyes as the wind rushed past him, almost blowing him over. Slowly a giant body began forming, raising the motionless form of Dark Link with it.

In only a matter of seconds, the transformation was done, and there it stood before him.

It looked almost exactly like Eren's titan form, only it was completely pitch black, contrasting with the now rising sun, and the eyes were a shining blood red.

Looking directly at the Hero, one could almost see a smile worming its way onto the monsters face, as it took in its new power.

Link stared on in horror, too shocked to make a move. Snapping himself out of his daze, he moved to put on the Giant's mask, only to abruptly stop as he dove to the side, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the dark titan's fist.

Link let out a growl of frustration, " _Dammit, there's no way he's going to just let me transform. I'm going to have to figure out another way to deal with this._ "

Dodging another fist, Link rolled away from the monster, making a dash for his Gilded Sword.

Not giving him any breathing room, Dark Link's titan form leapt from all fours, making a mad lunge at the retreating Hero.

Feeling the shadow come over him, Link stopped just in time to avoid being caught in the beast's mouth, only to watch as the Gilded Sword get lodged in between the dark titan's teeth.

The black titan rose to its feet once more, keeping its eyes centered on Link.

Said Hero was slowly backing up, desperately trying to form a plan to bring the beast down. The titan made to attack once more, bringing its foot down in an attempt to crush the Hero of Time.

Link stood his ground, mind racing. " _There has to be a way out of this, I refuse to let it end like this!_ "

* * *

Off to the side the Shiganshia trio sat wide-eyed at the scenario that was unfolding.

There was yet another titan-shifter, one that looked almost exactly like Eren at that.

Not to mention that the person that was inside it was a supposed evil duplicate of their squad member, who had just murdered a good chunk of the elite scouts.

"Is this how we die?" Armin asked to no one in particular, as he gazed upon the towering form of the dark titan about to finish off Link.

Eren sat silently, feeling more useless than he ever had before. He was the supposed savior of humanity, and yet here he was just sitting there and watching as his comrade was fighting until the bitter end.

His rage boiling to a new peak, he raise his thumb to transform once more.

It was at that moment that Armin turned to Eren to ask him his thoughts on the matter, and seeing what the titan shifter was about to do, went into a panic.

"Eren, stop! You can't fight that thing!"

His cries fell on deaf ears, and Eren bit down, triggering the transformation.

Knowing what was about to happen, Armin turned and tackled the unsuspecting Mikasa out of the way of the bolt of energy that once more turned Eren into the Rogue Titan.

Steam emitted from the titan's mouth as his green eyes shone with an unrivaled fury. Letting out a loud roar, he charged into action, leaving his two best friends sitting on the ground in a daze.

The two sat there and watched, completely unaware of the approaching figure from behind.

* * *

Link was still searching for a way out of the mess that he was currently in, with only a few more precious seconds before the enormous foot would end his existence.

Before he could come up with anything, the foot was halted as the body that went with it was lifted of the ground. Link watched in shock, as Eren's titan form proceeded to grapple, and throw its dark counterpart.

No longer in danger, Link fell to his knees to catch his breath with his head staring at the ground.

Looking back up, he witnessed as the dark titan stood back up and faced off against the Rogue.

Eren struck first, attempting to grab the other giant's midsection, to which its opponent countered with a right hook to the head.

While Eren stumbled from the blow, the dark titan kept the momentum up and went for a leg sweep.

As the dark titan's leg came rushing towards his own, Eren raised his foot and stomped downward.

This resulted in him breaking off the dark titan's foot at the ankle, and throwing it off balance. Dark Link's titan stumbled and began falling to its left.

Using gravity as his ally, Eren threw a diagonal punch with his own left hand, slamming the dark titan's head into the ground.

Eren waited for the dark titan to get back up on its feet and continue fighting, only for no movement whatsoever to occur.

Walking over, Eren knelt down and observed the nape of the dark titan, eyes filling with confusion at what he saw.

There was Dark Link, unconscious on the nape, face down with limbs still stuck in the titan.

Seeing easy prey Eren went in for the kill, opening his mouth, his rage filled brain not thinking of anything but tearing apart this monster from limb to limb with his teeth.

When the Rogue Titan's mouth was almost upon the limp figure, Dark Link's left hand suddenly freed itself from the dark titan, throwing something at Eren's face.

It ended up being a his sword, which he had removed from himself while in the titan. The shadow's aim was true, and now the blade was lodged in the Rogue Titan's left eye, imparting its vision.

Smirking as he sank back into the nape of his own titan, Dark Link rose to his feet once more, ready to continue the fight.

* * *

 _Hyrule-Ganondorf's Castle_

Trei was breathing heavily as he stepped into the throne room.

His body bloodied, bruised, and was beyond the point of exhaustion, but he was finally at his destination: Ganondorf's throne room.

There the King of Evil sat, on the throne that once belonged to the King of Hyrule.

Ganondorf stood up and began walking towards the battle weary knight.

"How interesting, I believed there was none left who would dare to face me," Ganondorf spoke with an amused tone.

Trei raised his weapons, preparing for battle. Ganondorf stopped approaching as he saw the young warrior take his battle stance, before letting out an uncontrollable laugh.

Regaining his composure Ganondorf looked at Trei with an evil smile, "Do not be foolish boy, do you really think that you can stand against me?"

Trei narrowed his eyes, "If I don't then who will? It doesn't matter if I'm ready for you or not, your reign of evil will end tonight Ganondorf!"

The smile fell from the Evil King's face as he observed the knight in front of him.

"You insolent fool, the Hero of Time was no match for me, what makes you think you have any chance of winning if he couldn't?"

Trei scoffed, "I don't care about so called Heroes, they are just a bunch of idealistic fools, who don't understand what the real way to life is."

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, "Oh and what might that be?"

"Power, those with the most power have the easiest time in life; and what better way to gain power and respect, than to eradicate the disease that has been plaguing this land for years?"

Ganondorf gained a small look of surprise, before quickly narrowing his eyes once more, "You know what kid, I like your attitude."

With that, Ganondorf began levitating in the air, as the throne room changed into a battle hall. Trei raised his shield ready to fight.

* * *

 _Scouting Legion HQ_

Link watched as the two titans continued to battle, with Dark Link currently having the upper hand.

After taking out Eren's left eye, he proceeded to do the same to the right, putting Eren on the defensive, holding out until he could see again.

Knowing that this battle was becoming one sided, Link rose to his feet and began running into the fray. He couldn't transform into his giant form, his body wouldn't be able to handle the strain it caused for long in his current state.

No he would have to do this the hard way.

As he was halfway to where the titans were locked in a power struggle a thought struck him freezing him in place.

Reaching into his pouch he pulled out the Fierce Deity mask, staring at it.

Despite it being a mask, there was a sense of excitement and desperation to it, almost as if it _needed_ to be put on.

Staring into the white eyes of the mask, Link swore he could almost make something out, as he slowly began to raise it to his face.

A sense of dread filled him as he continued to bring the mask closer, yet he could not stop his hand, it was moving automatically.

Link was beginning to worry about there being something wrong with the mask, before quickly shoving those thoughts to the back of his mind.

His friend was in danger, and this would give him the power to win, it always had. With this he was unstoppable, and with it he could save anyone.

There was almost a feeling of complete peace as the mask was only inches away from his face, before it was interrupted by the falling form of the Rogue Titan landing only a few meters away from where he was standing.

The force of the impact was enough to bring Link out from his trance, and to focus back at the situation at hand. The feeling the mask was giving him made Link second guess his decision to use it, and he quickly stowed it back into his pouch.

By this time the dark titan was on top of the fallen form of Eren's titan, and was about to tear the shifter out of the nape.

The head of Dark Link's titan inched closer to the nape, mouth open wide.

Link seeing his chance, drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and fired directly at the dark titan. The arrow missed the eye, but was enough to startle the monster as it jumped back.

Looking down, he saw that Link had just shot another arrow, and, much to the shadow's shock, had pierced the titan's skin.

Changing targets, the dark titan began to close in on Link, who continued to fire arrows at the oncoming beast.

Once the Hero was in striking distance, the dark titan brought a hand down to flatten Link. Rolling to the side, Link grabbed onto one of the fingers of the shadow titan, and climbed on top of its arm.

The Hero began to run up the appendage, prompting Dark Link's titan to begin shaking said arm wildly, desperately trying to remove the Hylian.

Its efforts were rewarded by a surge of pain shooting through him, as Link sunk his blades into the arm to anchor himself.

The dark titan than raised its other arm, attempting to swat the Hero away.

Link quickly fired his longshot at the titan's cheek, before releasing his grip on the two blades that were sunk in the giant arm. Once he reached the end of the chain, Link wasted to time and quickly dove onto the nape of the dark titan.

Drawing the Biggoron Sword, he began repeatedly stabbing the nape, trying to skewer the shifter inside.

The titan shook wildly in another crazed attempt to remove the Hero from his body.

This time Link wasn't able to hold onto his sword, and fell from the titan.

Landing on the ground in a roll and rising into a kneeling position, Link looked over his shoulder to see a large hand heading his way.

Jumping to his feet, the Hero swung the two handed sword wildly, removing three of the fingers on the titan's right hand.

The dark titan pulled his hand back, and let out a howl of pain as he held it at the wrist.

Link continued to fire his arrows until he ran out, causing the titan's large body to know look like a giant pin cushion, arrows sticking out of various places.

The dark titan began to rush towards Link, his red eyes bright with a crazed bloodlust.

When he was about halfway to Link, he was forced to turn to his left to block an oncoming fist, the Rogue Titan was back.

Seeing his opportunity, Link quickly began dashing towards the two, trying to actually be able to tag team Dark Link's titan.

However it would seem that fate did not intend for the two soldiers to work with each other today, as the dark titan had finally had enough, and knocked the head of the Rogue Titan with one strike.

Link stopped in his tracks as he saw the dark titan turn to him, anger flaring in its red eyes.

The titan let out a roar and closed the gap between the two in less than a second, grabbing Link in its giant fist.

Dark Link then began to crush the Hero as he raised him higher, only allowing Link's head to stick out from the giant hand.

Dark Link emerged partly from the nape, looking directly at the Hylian warrior.

"Finally, I get to kill you," the shadow spat out, its rage seeping into its tone, as he applied more pressure.

Link gritted his teeth from the pain as he felt his bones begin to crack. Much to Dark Link's surprise however, he did not scream in agony, but began to laugh.

It was soft, almost inaudible, but the shadow was able to pick it up none the less.

Dark Link smirked, "Looks like you've finally cracked. It really is a shame, you were a worthy adversary."

Link met the shadow's gaze, a grin on his face.

"I'm not laughing because I'm insane, I'm laughing because you still haven't noticed the obvious."

The smirk fell from Dark Link, the shadow's face contorting to one of confusion and anger, "Oh really, and what might exactly that be?"

"The reason why I fired so many arrows at you," Link said triumphantly, freeing his left arm from the titan's grip.

In the Hero's hand there was a small black cylinder with a red button on the top. Not giving the shadow anytime to react, Link pressed the button in a last act of desperation.

Three things happened at once, the first being there was a loud **_*BOOOOM*_** as the remote bombs Link had placed on his arrows activated, tearing apart the dark titan's body.

The second was the grip on Link loosening as the arm that was crushing him fell away from the monster's body.

The third was that the Gilded Sword that was previously wedged between the dark titan's teeth was now dropping to the ground along with the rest of the titan.

Not wasting his chance, Link began running up the arm, before firing his hooks to another piece of titan that was falling through the air.

Link angled himself just right, and grabbed the Gilded Sword out of the air. Landing on the titan limb he was hooked on, Link then fired his other hook at the head of the titan, whose nape was still in one piece.

Swinging himself around so that he was lined up with the nape, Link fired his hook one more time, latching onto the back of the titan's neck.

Shooting forward, Link went right through the damaged titan nape, coming out the front with Dark Link impaled on his sword. Using the shadowy double to break his fall as he hit the ground.

Link panted heavily as he looked to his duplicate, making sure that it was finally over.

"See," the Hero began, "I told you that you couldn't beat me."

With that Link fell to the ground, the adrenaline wearing off and allowing him to fall into the realm of the unconscious.

* * *

Link awoke to find himself in a cell with nothing on except his white undershirt, and a pair of undergarments.

On the other side, he could make out a guard of some sort holding a strange metal object.

It was long and thing, with a small opening at the front, but that wasn't what Link was concerned about.

No where was all of his stuff, how did he get here, and where was everyone else?

"Hey, looks like he's coming around. Go and let him know that the prisoner is awake."

* * *

Eren woke up in a unfamiliar bedroom, with an even more unfamiliar person sitting next to his bed. His sight returning to him, Eren almost did a double take.

"Dad?!"

The person sitting next to his bed simply shook his head, "No Eren, I am not your father. My name is Zeke Yeager, and we have a lot to talk about."

* * *

 ** _AN: Well there you go, another chapter. Don't expect another one anytime soon, school is still my priority, I just happened to have a bit of free time and figured what the heck. I may be able to write a bit more since I no longer have to study for the ACT at the moment, since I took that recently and won't get my score on it for a few weeks, so until then I may be able to focus a bit more on this. Anyway, advise and reviews are always appreciated as it lets me know that this is something that people actually enjoy, and yes it does help to motivate me to write it. With that said, until next time!_**


	14. Jailbreak

**_AN: Well happy 2018 people, 2017 certainly was a wild ride. Hard to believe that it has been a whole year since I started writing this thing. So I figured for the anniversary of it's creation to update it._**

* * *

Link sat in silence in his cell, not moving a muscle. He had no clue how long he had been out, or what had happened in that time. As it stood he was surrounded by gray metal on all sides, with strong iron bars blocking his escape. Whoever had captured him was very thorough, as all of his equipment was gone.

In front of the cell sat two guards on wooden chairs, they seemed to be playing a card game of some sort. To the right of them was a metal door, beside it lied a coat rack which held his tunic.

Link sat back once more trying to find a way out of his situation when the door opened with a loud * _SLAM*_.

"Ah, you're finally awake," said the new entry, as he strolled in.

The man was about medium height with no noticeable things standing out about him. He seemed to hold some respect among the men guarding him, as the two stood up and saluted when he walked in.

"Greetings there," the man began, "my name is Captain –"

The soldier stopped talking as he saw Link turn around as if he weren't even there.

With a small amount of surprise the captain began again, "Perhaps names are not so important, so let us move on shall we?"

The captain now put on a smile, "We are sorry for the way you have been treated, but we need to make sure that you won't run away from us until you answer our questions, is that okay with you?"

 _Silence_

The captain's face fell, "You see we have an informant who has told us about you. Supposedly you have some kind of incredible power on you yes?"

 _Silence_

Face twitching in agitation slightly, the captain went on, "Anyway we have been asked to deliver you to someone who resides in the inner walls on that island, but if you cooperate with us then we may just let you join us! What do you say to that?"

 _Silence_

Nostril's flaring the captain yelled, "Hey what do you think you're doing?! I'm trying to talk to you!"

Reaching into the cell the captain grabbed the back of Link's collar and pulled him towards the bars. The captain then punched Link in the back of the head, sending him to the ground. Still though, Link never made a move.

"Fine then if you won't answer our questions then we'll just send you back to that island in chains. What that Ganondorf guy could want with someone like you I'll never know," the now red faced captain glowered.

As the officer began to reach for the door, Link's voice called out, "Fine."

Turning around the captain saw Link standing up, sending an intimidating glare his way.

Smirking a little the soldier turned back around and walked over to his prisoner.

"Good, now then how about you tell us exactly what this-" the captain was cut off as Link held up his finger.

"One," the hero said, "I'll answer one question, and only if you answer one of mine first. So you better make sure you don't waste it."

Desperate to make any kind of headway the man nodded.

Link narrowed his eyes, "Tell me is there a map of this place, whatever it is?"

The captain looked at Link in disbelief, "Of course this ship has a map, what does that have to do with anything?"

Link looked away from the officer, " _So I'm on some sort of boat huh? That makes things more difficult._ "

Link turned back to the captain, "It means that every single one of you on this boat is going to die."

The captain stared at Link with a slack jaw before guffawing, "Oh yeah, good luck with that little boy. We know all about your deep pockets, that's why we made sure to remove all your equipment from you. You're stuck in that cell until we want to let you out. Now for my question-" the captain was cut off by Link's finger once more.

The hero gave a smirk, "Ah, ah, ah, you already asked your question, remember?"

The captain stood in disbelief, before his face turned to that of rage. Link doubled over as the captain rammed his fist into his gut.

"Now you listen here you little brat, you may think you're clever but your not. Once this ship lands, you're going straight back to Paradis, gift wrapped for its new ruler. That I can guarantee."

With that the captain left, leaving Link alone with the two guards once more. The only thing that seemed to have changed is that Link's face now held a downright evil grin.

* * *

 _Ganon's Castle_

Trei was tasting victory as Ganondorf struggled to get up again. The fight was not over yet, but it was starting to become obvious that Trei had the upper hand. Little did the knight now, he was not actually fighting the real Ganondorf.

Knowing that people might think he was gone, the real Ganondorf left behind his phantom to hold the illusion that he was still in Hyrule. Thinking that no one would attempt to fight him he saw no issue with not making the phantom any more powerful.

"Ugh, you've certainly got some skill, knight," the phantom spat out.

Trei smirked, "I know, I am extraordinarily powerful. A bit tougher than that so called "Hero" wouldn't you say?"

" _Don't make me laugh, you may have some skill, but you are far below Link ever was,_ " Phantom Ganon thought to himself as he finally drew his sword.

"What's this, you're going to fight **_me_** in sword combat? Please I'm the greatest swordsman in all the land," Trei boasted.

"Grr, master hurry up and return so I may be free of this welp's insufferable gloating," the phantom growled under his breath.

* * *

 _With Link_

Link studied the guards, making sure their attention was purely on the cards and wine in front of them. Once he was sure he was no longer being watched, he began to move performing the magic he had received so long ago.

Slowly a green orb formed above him, floating in mid-air. Once Link was done working the spell, the orb sped through the bars and hovered directly in front of the iron door that the captain had come through.

"Return to warp point," Link whispered to himself, before he felt himself be moved from where he stood to taking the place of the green orb.

The soldiers were oblivious to his freedom, and continued to play their game. Not wanting to risk being found out, Link quietly picked up a bottle of wine from the ground and snuck over to his prey.

The first soldier never knew what killed him as Link brought the bottle down on his head, hard. The bottle shattered and the now dead man fell to the ground.

The second guard attempted to scream, but was too slow as his throat was sliced open by the sharp edges of the broken bottle. Leaving the man to drown in his own blood, Link walked over to the coat rack and retrieved his tunic. He cursed under his breath as he found that his item belt was nowhere to be found.

Trying the door, Link was not surprised to see that it was locked. Walking back to the now dead soldiers, he stifled through their uniforms until he found what he was looking for.

Link headed back to the door to unlock it when he heard it being unlocked from the other side.

The captain from before walked into the room only to see the mess that had been left behind.

"What, what happened in here?!" The captain wondered aloud.

"I told you," Link began, appearing behind the trembling man, "every single one of you was going to die."

The captain only had time to turn around and see his attacker before Link jammed the glass bottle he used earlier into the man's face, taking both of his eyes.

As he watched the man writhe in pain Link's eye flashed white for just a moment, before he repeatedly stomped on the captain's head until the soldier moved no more.

Link once more looked over the dead body, taking the captain's keys. Turning to the door he walked out, ready to fulfill his promise to the now deceased officer. There would be no survivors.

* * *

 ** _AN: Sorry if this is kind of short, I wanted to make it longer but I mainly wanted to get this out today. I will try and upload the next chapter by at least the end of the month. See you next time!_**


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